Spring of '69
by Misao Silent-mode
Summary: *AU*. In the last year of the Golden Decade, the magical sixties, a small town get shaken by the Rurouni Kenshin crew. *THIRD CHAPTER* Now the plot really comes out: what's going on with the city?
1. A Hard Day's Night

.:Disclaimers:. A lot. As soon as the fic's over I'll add a huge one. For the moment, it's enough knowing that Rurouni Kenshin doesn't belong to me. If you don't mind my saying so, that's damn obvious. 

**Spring of '69**

**I-**

It was late March, 1969 and spring was playing its tune in that small city. Everything was quite normal, as it has always been supposed to be in such a familiar place: the temple, the houses, the school, the shops, the market, the forest... Everything except the old ladies that gossiped about the hippies living in the trees. But even this fact had already became a part of routine. 

On her room upstairs the house, Kaoru closed the door and the soft courtains, leaving just the blinker open to allow light to come in. It was one of those days when she felt like dancing, so she reached for her favorite disc, Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night". She put it on the phonograph, placed cautiously the needle on it and moved aside, shaking her body according to the loud sound of the first song, her hair moving from side to side on her high ponytail. She had been bored. 

"Wow... I think I could dance like this forever!", she thought while singing aloud the lyrics she knew by heart. "If only I didn't have to go to that stupid supper on Yumi's house..." 

"Kaoru!" a male voice echoed from downstairs, barely being heard by the girl. "Stop stomping! What are you doing there?" 

"I'm training for Beatles' concert!" she answered patienceless. 

"Those hairy junky pot-smokers had quit making concerts in 1966, for Kami's sake!" the voice screamed back. 

Kaoru halted by the player and stopped the disc from spinning by holding the needle, producing a singular and disheartening sound. "Mou! You killjoy!" she bellowed, tightening her fists. 

^_^x 

On the edge of the forest near the borders of the city a trail could be seen. It led to a wide glade where a hippie comunity had set down some years before. The elder citzens didn't enjoy the idea of having those people living there. It caused a lot of speculation, miths and tales about the unnoficial dwellers, about their way of living and their reason to be there. The men believed they were flyers; the women thought their being crooks, whores and pushers; the youth considerated them idols for breaking the rules and following their wills. 

By the river, Kenshin was doing the laundry. Kneeing there quietly he was, thinking about his life, about the birds, about all he had left behind, about what he would have for dinner. He was lost within his head when a foxy voice came from among the trees. "Ken-saaaaaaaaaaan!". He sprang up in alarm, turning his head back to see Megumi approaching afterwards. 

"Megumi-dono! You have scarred _sessha_...", Kenshin said smiling. 

"Ahwn, sorry, Ken-san... I didn't mean to..." 

"By the way, what's the matter?" 

"Well, I need you a favor..." 

"Hm, if _sessha_ can help..." 

"You surely do! Would you mind to keep me company this night?" 

"Oro?!", his eyes buged. 

"I mean, I must pick some stuff at the groceries up and I don't want to go downtown alone! Everyone out there looks at me in an odd way... I'd like you to make me company... And to protect me also! The sun's setting down, and Kami only knows what they think about a young womang from the comunity who walks alone at night in the city." 

"Hm, it's alright then..." he said, with his hand behind his head "But _sessha_ is affraid that it won't be very useful..." 

"Anyway I feel more secure... At least I won't feel one of a kind... So, do you mind to come with me?" 

"No, Megumi-dono! _Sessha_ will make you company, _de gozaru yo_."- he smiled warmly. 

"Ah! Thank you, Ken-san!" she huged him, making a real fuss, getting up and pulling him by the wrist afterwards. "Let's go!" 

"Ah, wait! The clothing! Megumi-dono, _sessha_ must pick up the clothing!" 

Ow, cut it out, Ken-san! It's not time to think about the laundry!" 

"Wait! _Sessha_ was already doing it!" he shouted, while trying in vain to break free from her hands and get the clothes he was washing when she arrived. He could yet watch, kind of let down and with a helpless expression, one of his companion's clothes being carried by the stream. 

^_^x 

Riding a black Harley-Davidson fleetely on the highway, a man was seen following the cars that carried the gear of a rock band. He wore torn jeans, a white T-shirt (at least this was the color it was supposed to be), a black shirt with a white _kanji_ stamped on it over the T-shirt and a red strip. Tight tied with a rope on the back-saddle there were a backpack and a guitar. 

Nobody could hear it, due to the high speed that made the sound seem inaudible, but Sanosuke sang to himself a song. It was composed by a friend of his who played on a band (in his opinion they would never become anything, despite their good music making). It's chorus was something like "We were born, born to be wild... Born to be wi-i-i-i-ild..." and this was just the way he felt, like someone who wasn't fated to be a righteous doctor or a respectable teacher, but a thrill seeker. And there he was, seeking thrill and following his favorite band across the country -The Doors. All he needed was there: a few clothes for him to change, his guitar, his body, his charm and his skill. With it he could develop himself well enough. 

"Goddamn, I'm hungry... As soon as they stop I'll seek somewhere to eat... 'hope I can create myself an accountment in some o' those drive-throughs and I won' have to pay cash on the meal time, specially 'cuz I have none..." he thought while singing. "Well, if the person behind the counter's a cutie it'll be a piece o' cake...", he giggled alone onto his metal companion. 

"Born to be wi-i-i-i-ild..." he sang loudly, turning his attention to the blood-red crimson. It was a great view fom that highway. Then, suddenly, something caught his eye: there were two people traveling on the band's car's top! 

^_^x 

"Hm, I hate the top...", Yahiko complained while sitting on the car' roof. Misao hit him on the top of his head, making him hop with anger. "Ahw! Why the heck did you do it?" 

"Stop muttering, you silly." Misao held her ground to take balance. "We have already been through worse things. Do you remember when we went under that truck? THAT was uncomfortable." 

"Don't remind me about that.", the boy shook the coming image of that experience. "But I still prefere the trunk." 

"Yeah, but nothing is perfect, isn't it? What does it matter where we're travelling if we're going with The Doors?" 

"The Doors, The Doors, The Dooooooooors!!!" Misao-chibi and Yahiko-chibi cheered hysterically. Back to normal shape, she laughed. 

"Really! The trunk is more comfortable, we can sleep, but it's not so exciting! Not to mention the wind. It's becoming quite hot!" 

"Yeah, it is..." he said smiling, then turned to a gloomy face. 

"What is it now? Don't you think it's funny?" 

"Yes, it surely is... But... Well... when will we stop?" 

Misao sighed and then she boasted. "Well, I don't intend to. But you can, whenever you want." Then she saw the blue expression on Yahiko's face. "Ow, come on, boy! What else do we have of our own besides this? All we have is the guts and the breath to have fun! Do you want to loose it too?" 

Yahiko swang his head in denial, then smiled cheerfully. "Yeah, you're right! We are on our own, we do whatever we think it's good for us. It's difficult sometimes, but everything has a price, isn't it? We live in a way that lots of people would give their neck just to taste. No, I have nothing to complain about." 

Misao smiled and messed her companion's hair. This conversation made her miss a little her other life: hed bedroom, her city, and even sometimes her parents. But this conclusion of Yahiko's made her think better. "Well, it's been two years since I ran away from home... My parents probably can't even remember me... And I think I'm better now than when I was with them... Yes, Misao. You draw your way. It can be wrong or difficult, but it's yours." Then she turned her head aside, yet in silence, and gazed the crimson. "Yahiko, look how red is the sky today!" she pointed to nowhere on the glow and said aloud. 

^_^x 

Kaoru was wearing a blue dress, long to her knees and with no sleeves, tied around her neck with a knot to the left of it, letting two pieces of soft fabric fall to her shoulders. Trying to keep balance onto her high heels, she longed for her pantaloons, her comfortable blouse and her usual lack of shoes. Or at least some dress that wouldn't make her look so ridiculous, since her father wanter her to wear a **dress**. But he would never allow her to choose her own clothes, specially for such an important occasion like that one. Since her mother had died, a few years ago, he had always been asking her friend's mothers for advice on how she should dress. A silly attitude, on her opinion. 

"Silly things. I don't need anyone to tell me how to dress...", she thought in silence, while keeping on swallowing the tears. "Why can't he accept me the way I am? I have my own style and I have nothing to hide... But he insists on making me look like a porcelain doll..." 

And coldly looking to the floor she went on, her father accompanying her close, introducing her to his friends and to people he barely knew. The same sentence she used to hear several times in one night. "Your daughter is really lovely, Kamyia-sensei!". Sometimes she wanted to shout that she was not lovely, she was no doll or cute animal. But the respect she felt for her father kept her thoughts from turning to voice on her throat. 

The host, Yumi, was just ecstatic. For three years she had been dating Shinomori Aoshi, a young and wealthy lawyer, who was taking mastership at that time. He was the best catch in the city, the kind of man that every family would gladly choose to marry the young ladies. And now their relationship was becoming official to the society. She looked glad on her champaign-colored dress, but she felt kind of worried. Running her eyes through the large hall she took no notice of her fiancé. As a lightning, she ran to the study, and there he was, curved over a huge book, reading and taking notes on a separated sheet of paper. She closed the door and leant on it. 

"_Koishii_... Everybody is out there. Let's go, it's our engagement party... It's not normal that we remain here inside as caracoles." 

"I will be soon out.", he answered coldly, not moving away from his book. 

"That's right. Don't take long, daddy wants to toast...", she smiled happily and approached to his chair, kneeing by his side and taking his hand. He turned his cold blue eyes to her. "I love you, _koishii_.", she wishpered. He kissed her hand and said nothing, turning back to his book. She got annoyed. "Tell me this." 

"Tell you what?" 

"Tell me that you love me." 

"Oh, come on, Yumi... This is so childish..." 

"Don't you love me?!" 

"You know what I feel...", he said, finally facing her back. 

"So tell it! I just wanna hear!" 

"Alright...", he sighed. "I love you too." 

She smiled and kissed the tip of his lips, then turned round and walked out of the room, leaving the man there, back to his literature. 

Showing back on the hall, Yumi ran into Kaoru and made a great fuss, pulling her to a corner for them to have a conversation. 

"So, Kaoru-chan? How are things? Ah, you look so beautiful!" 

"Ahw, things are running on fine. Nothing new, though. And yet, I hate this clothes..." 

"Come on, girl! You look fabulous! But tell me, have you got a boyfriend yet?" 

"Hm, not really." 

"How come?!", she looked really surprised. "Why? You are already seventeen! What's the matter? Doesn't Kamyia-sensei like the lads?" 

"Well, it's just that I'm not in love with anyone, for the moment..." 

"Kaoru! It's just a matter of time! You don't need necessarily to be in love with anyone to get a dating!" 

"Do you mean that you are not in love with Aoshi?" Kaoru frowned dazzled. 

"Not yet, I think. Well, I though I was, but maybe I'm not..." 

"Well, Yumi... I think that when we really fall in love we just don't doubt it. It's obvious to us." 

"Maybe. But I'm not in any hurry! We'll get married, we'll have our entire lives to spend together and fall in love with each other." She smiled mischievously, looking from side to side and approaching to Kaoru. "Today, while I got dressed, my mother explained me things... er... some things that a married woman must know..." 

"You mean, she told you about sex?" 

"Yes...", Yumi blushed. "My mother talked about it in such a different way from the Biology classes... she gave me some hints on how to... please him... She made it seem so... intimate... And good also! I think we'll fall in love when we do that way..." 

But before Kaoru asked her, very quizcall, about how she could have sex with someone she had no intimacy, no feeling about, Yumi's father summoned her for them to toast and Kamyia-sensei came closer to his daughter. She obseved the young lady that led to the lawyer's side, holding a glass of champaign he handed her. As the proud father made a speech, Kamyia-sensei wishpered to Kaoru, starting a soft-voiced talk. "You see, Kaoru-chan... Your friends are becoming married women... They are setting dates, engaging, growing up... Becoming adults." 

"I am still seventeen, _Otousan_...", she said as soflty as him. 

"But it's already time for you to think about your future. You can't keep inside your bedroom forever." 

"I had already thought about my future. I am going to university next year, I'll study a lot and I'll become a teacher." 

"It's a good thought. But can't you think about this kind of thing later?" 

"That's what I want for my life. The rest will happen if it's to happen." 

"Indeed... But things are not that easy, dear..." 

"Well, I must say that things are not that difficult, _Otousan_." 

"Kiddy, we've already had this conversation. It took us nowhere. You know you must think about having a family, about having chlidren, running a house, being a good wife..." 

"What about me? Mustn't I think about me?" 

"All of this is thinking about you." 

"What if I want to be free? What if I want to lead my own life, _Otousan_?", she said, becoming angry. 

"These are silly ideas, Kaoru. Will you be alone forever?" 

"I haven't made up my mind yet... If I decide so..." 

"Stop with this stupid conversation. And quit this crazy thoughts of being alone, with no children, no husband... It's for people who have no responsability." 

Kaoru had a lump in the throat. All she wanted to say was stuck there, hampered by her rage and her respect. She wanted to get out stormily stomping, but her father discretely grabbed her arm with strenght, making her stay, till Yumi's father was through with the speech and the toast. Just then she had the opportunity to slip out of there and take some fresh air. 

^_^x 

Kenshin and Megumi were walking through the empty streets, among the city lights. The woman curled her arm around Kenshin's, even if he was much shorter than her and she had to hunch a little. 

"It's strange..." Kenshin said. "There's nobody on the streets... At least some couples usually hang around here at night, but today there's nobody." 

"It's better like this, Ken-san. Nobody to point us and say 'look, two pot-smokers!'. No mother to embrace their children, as if we were wolves and they had to protect the kids from us... I like it that way." Then they stepped aside to cross the street, a wide and ill-lighted one. 

Suddenly, a loud roar could be heard by them, a motor-like sound. In no time, Megumi felt something whized behind her, knocking her down on the ground. Then the roar ceased. A tall man, wearing jeans and a black shirt, came from where the sound had died out. 

"Sorry, young lady...", he said, while lifting Megumi from the ground. "'m Sanosuke, I'm a foreigner, I didn't know theah'd be anyone at the street and--" 

"You idiot!" she shouted in rage. "You could have killed me with this thing! What kind of crazy are you? Riding a motonet this fast into a city!" 

"Whoa... calm down! It's not a motonet, that's a genuine Harley-Davidson. Yah alright, ya didn't get hurt, as I can see and I've already apologized." 

"It was luck that I didn't get hurt, you lunatic!" 

"Hey, -t's enough with the offensive words, isn't it?" 

"Stop being so ironic! I could have gotten hurt, I have the right to complain! You are the wrong one here, not me!" 

"Uh, Megumi..." Kenshin tried. "Let's go, the lad have already apologized and--" 

"Can't you at least pay attention to where you ride this thing?" Megumi went on arguing, without taking notice of Kenshin's advice. 

"Oi! Ya get angry easily, foxy woman!", Sanosuke mocked. 

"What did you call me, you rooster?", she frowned, treatening the man with her body. 

Kenshin sliped out quickly. He knew Megumi very well, it was obvious to him that she would spend the entire night arguing with the out-of-towner. The guy didn't seem dangerous, despite the stormy way he introduced himself and Megumi knew well how to develop alone. It would be worse if he stood there, with his eyes buged and turning from side to side without knowing what to say. So he left them and intended to take a walk through the city. 

"It's been a long time _sessha_ doesn't come to this part of the city..." He thought while wandering leisurely, gazing the dark sky sprinkled with stars. "Walking like this makes _sessha_ remember the time he roamed through the country... But one day _sessha_ will fly away again... _Sessha_ knows..." 

Kenshin passed across bridges, boulevards, alleys, just flerting with the city downcast lights, till he heard a cry, a muffled sob. Following the sound, he got to a square to see a young woman in a blue silk dress sitting on the grass, drawning into tears. He came closer and asked warmly. "Miss? Are you alright?" 

The girl lifted her head and gazed the red-haired man with her deep-green eyes, nodding her head. She tried to sweep away a tear from her left eye, but many others came after and she burst into copious cry, making obvious her answer wasn't true. She arched forth and proped her head on her knees, hiding her face from the man's violet eyes. Kenshin sat by her side and put his hand on her shoulder. 

"It's alright... calm down...", he softly petted her back, making her face him once again. "Is there anything _sessha_ can do to help you?" 

"I... I don't think so...", she sniffed, fixing her messed hair. 

Kenshin wiped away a tear that was still on the girl's face. "What is your name?" 

"Kamyia Kaoru..." 

"Ah, so you are Kamyia Kaoru, Kamyia Kasshin mistress and only seventeen years old... _Sessha_ has heard about you..." 

"Have... have you?" 

"Yes, you became a mistress when you were fourteen, _de gozaru ka_?" 

"In reality... I was fifteen..." she looked a little more cheerful. "But how do you know all of this about me?" 

"_Sessha_ lives around, _sessh_a had heard a lot while wandreing throughout this country; although _sessha_ doesn't come out here for several months." 

"What?" the girl frowned, a bit smily by curiousity. 

"Well, _sessha_ lives in the hippie comunity, in the forest. _Sessha wa rurouni_." He smiled warmly, a wide and sincere smile that was spilled over the girl's wet face. She stared at his face and could see within his violet eyes that he wasn't fake. After some minutes of an uncomfortable lack of any sound but her sniffs, he spoke again. "So, do you feel better now?" 

"Kind of..." she sighed cheerless and banged her head down.. 

"Well, what was it about?" 

"Life." 

"Hm, don't you say such things, young lady! Maybe things don't go as we expect them to in some moment, but it's not a reason to complain about life! Living is always a gift and it mustn't be taken away for anything, _de gozaru yo_." 

Kaoru said nothing, her head still down. Then, after a while, she lifted her eyes and looked within the red-headed man's. "I would like to... I mean, I want to be free." 

"Hm... All you need is will." 

"It's not that easy..." she shook her head while turning it to Kenshin's opposite side. 

"_Sessha_ must say things are not that difficult." 

Kaoru lifted her head dazzled with his answer -her own! "What a coincidence... It's not possible!" Somehow she enjoyed that odd man since he approached, exactely by his odd way, but that moment he really impressed her. Realising her surprised expression, Kenshin believed it to be a sign of courage on that weak and gloomy girl. 

"Himura Kenshin." The man bowed forth, offering his hand to the girl. 

"Kamyia Kaoru." She could design a timid smile, bowing forth to him and shaking his hand. 

"_Sessha knows_. You have already told _sessha_, Kaoru-dono!" 

"Aw!", she burried her face into her hands, ashamed. "I'm so stupid!" 

"Take it easy, Kaoru-dono!", he laughed. "Forget about it. So, where do you live? _Sessha_ means, where can _sessha_ find you?" 

"Oh-oh... I'd rather you not no find me... I mean, my dad wouldn't enjoy running into you... He hates those matters of freedom and hippies and _rurouni_ and... " 

"Oh, _sessha_ sees. You mean your dad would hate _sessha_." 

"Yes..." she agreed sadly, but quickly she turned to a desperate try to fix the situation. "I mean, no! I mean, yes and no! I mean... awh! Forget. Sorry!" 

"_Sessha_ understands, Kaoru-dono! By the way, if you want to talk to _sessha_ you know where to go. You can come whenever you want to have some talk." 

"Well... Don't people at the comunity... get... angry? I mean..." 

"They surely don't! If wou want, you may go tomorrow. _Sessha_ will be glad of introducing you to the people in there, specially to Megumi-dono..." Kenshin buged his eyes suddenly. "Oh-oh! _Sessha_ forgot Megumi-dono arguing with that man! _Sessha_ must go now!" he said, getting up in a hurry. "Come tomorrow, if you can!" he could yet yell from the corner, leaving a smiling and renewed Kaoru sitting on the ground. 

A husky voice came from behind the girl, as soon as Kenshin desappeared. "Kamyia-san?". She turned her head to see Aoshi coming closer. "Kamyia-san, your father is searching for you. Where have you been?" 

She lifted herself and swept away the grass on her dress. "I... I came outside... to take some air... I felt dizzy, so I thought it would be good for me to breath some fresh air." 

"Hm... I see... Let's go back then." He said, turning round and leading to Yumi's house. Kaoru followed him. They said nothing for a while, then Aoshi mutered discretly. "Your eyes are bulky." 

"A-are they?" she stuttered. "Uh, it's because of... the air! It's too cold, then my eyes seemed dry and... they got bulky..." 

"Fine. And I was born twenty-six. I have never been seventeen...", he quipped her flatly. They said no more. He just drew a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Kaoru. Though, something fell on the floor when he did so, without him noticing it. 

^_^x 

"Hey Misao, why don't we just stay near the band crew? I'm tired, I want to sleep!" Yahiko moaned while following his companion along a street. She was running fast in front of him, who could barely walk and just couldn't keep up with the girl's pace. 

"They are going to set out tomorrow, by lunch-time! We must hang around the city before it happens! If we go to sleep now we'll not be able to know the place." She shouted over her shoulder, about twenty yards further. 

"We may do this tomorrow, when we wake up!" 

"Ha! The both of us know you're not going to get up in time!", she laughed, turning to a corner and going to another street. 

Yahiko fastened his pace, trying to follow her from closer. "Hey! I can wake up, I'll show you!". When he drew to the same corner Misao had, he saw her down to the floor, folded knees, scrutinizing a piece of paper. He stopped, a bit far from her. "What is it, Misao?" 

"It seems to be a calling card." She said, looking it on both sides. She squinted, trying to see what was written even in that dark night. She read, saying aloud. " 'Shinomori Aoshi - Lawyer.' There's also a phone number here." Turning the card, she could see its back face. It should be blank, but it was written, by pen, in a womanish caligraphy. " '_Aishiteru_. Yumi'... Hm, interesting!" 

"Ow, come on, Misao! What is so interesting in this love letter?" 

"Hm... I don't know... But I'll keep it anyway." She said, raising herself and puting the card on her backpack. "I feel it's gonna be useful..." 

"Ha, you demonstration of intuition again... I trust better in your _kunai_ than in your good sense or your intuition." the boy said, fixing his backpack onto his shoulders. He felt, though, a strong and small punch on his head, that made him get dizzy. 

"What's wrong with my _kunai_?!" Misao, very angrily, hit his head. 

They went on arguing along the street, when they finally saw a man and a woman face to face, arguing. Misao hid behind a tree and Yahiko, realising her intention, lowered himself and covered up behind a hydrant. The girl observed cautiously the scene: the guy looked bad, browny, with a red strip around his head and messed hair, a black shirt with a _kanji_ stamped behind it. It meant "evil". The woman looked fragile on her long skirt and her sleeveless shirt, no shoes. "This guy is going to rape the girl!", Misao thought, calling Yahiko's attention afterwards. 

"Pst! Yahiko!", she whispered. "We must do something! Do you have your _shinai_ on you?" 

"M-hm." Yahiko nodded. 

"So we'll do like this: I'll creep to that side and when I give you a sign we attack the guy together, OK?" 

Once again Yahiko agreed silently. Misao tiptoed from lamppost to lamppost, from tree to tree, avoiding being seen. She looked unsteadly, from her mate to the man, to the woman, and back to her mate. 

They discussed angrily. The woman was out of control and soon the man would be too. He approached his body threateningly to her. This very moment, Misao looked in sign to Yahiko and both jumped from their hide-outs to attack the would-be rapist. "_Kansatsu Tobikunai_!" But, before they could see it was a mistake, the woman pummeled violently the man's head and walked away calmly, yelling at him "_Baka_!". The man stood there, holding his head. Misao and Yahiko had no time to stop (the further had already flinged her weapons and the later was on the air from his jump, ready to hit the guy): they hurted directly the attacked man, together, making him fall on the floor. 

"_Oi_! Whadda hell is it all?" the man cried out, brushing his hand on the top of his head, the place both -the woman and Yahiko- had striked him. "Are you from any kind of organisation for the defense of the foxes?" 

"What?", Yahiko frowned, shaking his shoulders. 

"Shut up, Yahiko!", Misao said, running to Sanosuke's side to pick up her _kunai_. "Sorry, man. We thought you were going to rape the girl..." 

"Rape'er?!" he screeched. "-t was easier for her to kill me than for me to rape'er... Ouch, the girl's strong..." he brushed the place where she had hit him, than glared the couple of attackers. "And, for Geddy's sake, so are ya..." 

"Eh, ehe..." Misao turned a bit awkward. "Hm... is there anything we may do for you?" 

"By the way... 'm hungry. And gotta sleep." 

"Ha, loosing time, guy..." Yahiko said, throwing himself on the floor. "We're not from here, and we also look for food and bed. Yet, I'm dog tired as well." 

"Eh?" Sanosuke giggled. "And what do ya kids are doing outta home?" 

"Who did you call kids?" the boy jumped between the man and the girl, glaring him. Misao pushed his head down and went on talking. 

"Following The Doors, of course!" she answered. "And we are no kids." 

"Just like me... Hm, so yah roadies?" 

"I'd rather say we're 'followers'. We're not just apple-polishers." 

"Anyway... So, I see ya can do nothing for me... Can ya at least tell me where's there any inn?" 

"Hm... I really don't know...", Misao scratched her head. 

"Hey, I've seen one on that street we came from!" Yahiko shouted, getting up again. "There's a lit house, from where you can hear some music -I think it's a party. By the way, nextdoors there's an inn. There's a great sign on it, writen 'Akabeko'." 

"'Kay, lad." Sanosuke got up and rode his motorcycle again. "Thanks for the information. I'm Sagara Sanosuke, seek me if ya need anything. Yah...?" 

"We're Misao and Yahiko." the girl answered. "Thanks a lot, Sagara-kun. Take care." 

"'m OK: yah the danger." He winked, vanishing in the darkness upon his metal horse. Hands on her waist, Misao watched the man, while Yahiko approached to her. 

"He seems cool." the boy stated. 

Misao looked to the Yahiko's face and mentally compared him to Sanosuke. "M-hm... But don't you dare to become like him!", she giggled. 

^_^x 

.:It's Me Again:. That's just the first chapter. The *REAL* story is oncoming. Just a few clearing-ups: 1- don't colapse, Sano talks in an odd way; 2- there are slices of various songs scattered throughout the fic -as I've already told you, I'll write them down on the big-disclaimer; 3- for those who didn't have a clue about the expression "for Geddy's sake": it's normal for english-speakers to substitute the word "God" in daly expressions, placing other "g"-words (such as "gosh", or "geez"); that's just a reference to Geddy Lee, Rush' singer and bassman.  
This fic' updating won't be regular-timed, like "Try to Get Along Without Kaoru"'s, but I don't intend to take too long. Yet I'll update it just in case that the readers want to read it. So, do you really wanna read more of it? 


	2. Routine

.:Author's Notes 1:. Oh, my... this chapter's developed quite... giganteous. But don't worry, for that's an exception. The following ones will come out much shorter. This exaggerated lenght is due to... erm... well... I won't spoil it right now OK? Further explanations in the end of this chapter. Enjoy it for the moment! 

**Spring of '69**

**II-**

The following day had brought the bright and nasty sun back to the sky. In the trees, eight o'clock, Kenshin raised himself from bed and started his chores: he worked on the patch for almost three hours, then picked up some vegetables for lunch, starting to prepare them afterwards. Megumi came to help him and tried to stablish some kind of conversation, since they talked very little since the night before. Kenshin wasn't paying much attention though. 

"What's up Ken-san? Are you stepping on the moon?" 

"Uh, oro?" he came back to consciousness. 

"You're so far away! Tell me, where have you been?" 

"Hm... _Sessha_ thinks he's been here... but not now..." 

"I caught you thinking about your past again, you nasty boy..." the woman friendly hugged the red-headed man. 

"_Sessha_'s affraid you are wrong, Megumi-dono. To be true, _sessha_ was thinking about his future, de _gozaru yo_. A very close future..." 

"Hm! Is there any woman in it? I bet so! I know this floating voice of yours! It can just mean 'woman'.", she winked at him. 

"Hey, stop being so mischievous, Megumi-dono!" 

"Ohohohohoho!" 

"Eh, seriously talking..." Kenshin brushed his hand on the back of his neck "Megumi-dono is right, but not the way you are thinking. _Sessha_'s met a girl that got him very startled." 

"Hm... It's getting dense... I want to know what is it all about!" 

"Yesterday... while Megumi-dono argued with that lad, _sessha_ went to a walk. Then _sessha_ got to a square, where he found girl crying so painfully that--" 

"Hm, the helpful kind!" Megumi interrupted. "In this matter you are the best seducer I've ever known!" 

"Megumi-dono! _Sessha_ didn't seduce anyone!" 

"...that _sessha_ had realized... Soooo???" she rolled her eyes up ironically, imitating Kenshin's tune. 

"Soooo... that's all." 

"What do you mean by 'that's all'? Stop hiding the best part of the story!" 

"Uh...?" 

"I mean, you both got there, isn't it?" 

"Oro?!", Kenshin buged his eyes. 

"Aw, come on, Ken-san. Stop pretending you don't know what I'm talking about! You were married, you know exactely what it is and how to make it." 

"Me-Megumi-dono, we had no sex!" Kenshin tried desperatly to clear up things, in a very particular chibi-mode way. 

"You... didn't?" 

"NO!" 

"Aw, Ken-san... why didn't you tell me this from the very beggining? That's why you were so... let down... in all the meanings..." 

"What are you talking about?" Kenshin cocked his head, affraid of that foxy friend of his's mistaken thoughts. 

"THAT is what I mean: here." she said, drawing a small pack of herbs from her medicine chest and handing it to Kenshin, who just stared astonished. "Make a tea with this leaves and you realize... a-hem... a great upgrade on yourself..." she went on, making a bobbing movement with her open hand around her wrist. 

Kenshin had nowhere else to bug his eyes to. His face went fuchsia. 

^_^x 

At the inn, Sanosuke got downstairs yawning, about ten o'clock. Tae, the owner of the place, came to him herself, with a heartful look in her eyes. 

"Good morning, Sagara-san!" she greeted him, nodding ahead. "Will you have breakfast?" 

"G' morning, fairy lady.", he nodded in response, hunching to get her hand and kiss its back. "If ya don't mind my saying so, I wouldn't brush aside such 'mazing breakfast. If ya can please wait me on..." 

"Feel comfortable, sir.", she answered smily. "I'll bring you something to eat, alright?" 

He winked and made a gentle movement with his hand, heading to an empty table, where he sat and chuckled to himself. Soon Tae brought his breakfast, and there he ate, asking himself when had been the last time he had such a delicious meal. Then, finished the food, he left, hands on his pockets. The owner hampered him softly. 

"Hm, Sagara-san, here's your bill." she handed him a slip. 

"Oh, 'm not checking out yet..." he slipped rapidly from her clutch. "If ya don't mind, please write down everything together and I'll pay it when I do, will ya?" 

Tae agreed, but gazed him leave the inn with a very suspicious, yet heartful, look. "Ah, my friend... You are so handsome, but I'm not this easy-decieved..." she thought to herself. 

This time, Sanosuke had already gone through the door, passed across the other waiter, Tsubame, on her rollerskates among the cars, and gotten out of sight, leisurely ambling along the street. "Hm, Sano... ya must whip up an excuse very quickly." He tought to himself. "Dunno till when yah skill will do..." 

^_^x 

At the other tip of the city, sitting in a corner of a dump almost on the road, Misao took a nap. She was waken up by the mess of the band crew, from one side to the other. Yet unsteadly, she staggered to the restroom, washed her face and brushed her teeth. She managed to steal some food from a costumer without being noticed and this way she got breakfast. 

"I think there's enough for me and Yahiko... uh... where's Yahiko?", she finally took notice of the boy's absence since she woke up. 

The girl looked quickly from side to side, not seeing her friend anywhere in the dive. Yet clinging the food she had sneakily stolen, she rushed to outside, where the truck and two vans belonging to The Door's support staff were parked. Scattered through the floor there were devices, packs, boxes and the band stuff, with many men carrying it from side to side and loading the vehicles: they looked more like ants than humans. Kind of desperate, Misao blocked many people's way, asking if they had seen a ten-year-old boy, with spiky hair and carrying a _shinai_, but nobody had any clue of her target. 

"Yahiko!" she shouted from the top of her lungs, hands on the sides of her mouth, walking aimlessly among the people, trying to fight the hustle and bustle. "Yahiko, where are you?... Yahiko, please, stop the hide-and-seek game! Show up, please... Yahiko, you mocking brat! Come out, wherever you are! NOW!", but no answer came. "Yahiko-chan!" Then she halted and waited a few seconds. Again no answer. "Oh-oh... I named him 'Yahiko-chan' and he didn't come to hit me... That's bad!" 

Misao started pacing back and forth, thinking to herself. "Oh, my, oh my, oh my... Ok, ok, calm down. No panic, Misao." Then she halted and said to herself. "Think... what can you do to find Yahiko before the band's departure?" She looked up to the sky, rubbing her chin with her hand, when she suddenly remembered the card she had found the night before. Shuddering, she she reached to her backpack and took it off, reading it cautiously. " 'Shinomori Aoshi -Lawyer.' Damn, how do I go about it? He will refuse to help me..." It was very hot that day, so she rocked the card, trying to refresh herself. Then she had a bright idea, while glimpsing accidentally the back of the card. "Hm... '_Aishiteru_. Yumi'... He may refuse to help me... But he won't mind to help his... affair... Hihihihi!", she giggled, heading to a public phone. 

She took the phone out and just then she remembered. "Oh-oh... I need a coin..." Looking from one side to the other at the dump, she saw a dummy-faced man sitting by the counter and she chose him as her victim. "That one will be easy to trick. Coins, here Misao goes.", she thought in silence, adjusting herself and trying to look appealing. 

Languidly, the girl sat by the fool's side, crossing her legs sensually. "Uh, hello dear..." she said in a fake voice, sharper and softer than her true one. "Hmm... Could you lend me some coins?" 

The dull drinker looked at her and approached, _hentaily_. "I can land you everything you want, cutie..." 

"Hm... I just need some coins!" she dodged, smiling and trying to look natural. 

"Well, I have none, but if you follow me, you can use my... telephone...", he ogled her. 

"Uh... well, I really need to call, sir! Pleeeeeease..." she almost begged in a childish voice, then came closer, wishpering. "And afterwards, we may... eh... you know what I'm talking about, don't you?" 

"Eh, eh, eh... yes, of course... You are overaged, aren't you?" 

"Do I look as a sixteen-year-old child?", she pertended to be offended. 

"Noooooo... on the contrary..." he answered, coming closer and trying to kiss her. She banged back and giggled, pretending to think it was arousing, laying her hand forth just afterwards. 

"The coins... after the coins..." 

The man seeked for some coins on his pocket and gave Misao a handful of them. She got up and led back to the phone, laughing inside. "It was easier than I thought." 

The girl dialed the writen number. The phone ranged twice, then a husky and strong voice echoed from the other side. "Hello?" 

"Uh... Please, is Shinomori-sama there?" 

"It is me. Who is there?" 

"Uh..." she faltered, thinking on what she could fix to convince him. 

"Who is there?" 

"Er..." she took a glimpse to the back of the card and said, instinctively. "It's Yumi" 

"Yumi?" Aoshi frowned. "Your voice sounds quaint..." 

"Uh... I think I got a cold, *cough, cough*." Misao smiled and started puting on act, surprised on how convincing she could be sometimes. 

"Whatever...", Aoshi proped on the back of his chair and crossed his long legs under his desk. "What do you want?" 

"Uh, I... I got lost!", she cried, a fake and unprotective voice. 

"Lost?" he hunched forth, in amazement. 

"Indeed... Can you please help me?" 

"Alright..." the lawyer sighed, putting his elbow on the desk and holding his forehead. "Where are you?" 

" Er... I'm lost... I don't know where I am...", she frowned, covered the phone with her hand and wishpered afterwards "Ow, he's a dummy!". 

"Well, ask anybody! You are not alone in any desert alley, are you?" 

"Ah! Of course. Wait a minute..." she covered once again the telephone with the palm of her hand. 

While waiting on the phone, Aoshi was able to listen to a shrieking firm shout. "Hey, you! Yes, you hairy-bearded guy! Where the fuck am I? What?... Ah ok. Thanks, man!". The lawyer frowned, at the same time his fiancée's voice was back to him. "I'm in a restaurant named 'Mud Headquarter'." 

"For Kami's sake, Yumi... But, why didn't you call your parents? Why me?" 

"Ah, they... they weren't at home... Please, come and rescue me?" 

"Ok, I will manage to find its way... Wait for me." 

"Thanks, then." She sighed in relief. 

"Uh, Yumi... How did you get there?" 

"Oh, oh, dear! I'm running out of coins, the call's gonna-- doo, doo, doo, doo...", he was yet able to hear the would-be Yumi's desperate voice on the other side. A bit puzzled with that strange reaction of his fiancé's, Aoshi got up, wore his trenchcoat and walked out of his bureau, heading to the place where he thought he'd find her. 

On the Mud Headquarters, Misao hanged back the phone and sighed, leading to outside and sitting on the floor, in front of the dump. By her side, the jerk she decieved inside the restaurant came to charge her promise. 

"Hey, you depraved! Did you know it's a crime to suggest sexual desires in a public place, specially to an underaged girl?" Misao shouted, calling everybody's attention to her. 

The man, retreated. "You said you were overaged..." 

"'I said'? I've never seen you around, you perverted!" the girl shouted even louder, causing many people to glare the man. Head down, trying to scape from sight, the guy ran away. 

Misao stood where she was, folded legs, crossed arms over her knees. The laywer's voice came to her mind. "Boy, that man asks a lot! He must be a forty-year-old guy, bald and pot-belied, looking more like an skealeton than a man..." Rapidly, at the voice's remains, she shook away this idea: it didn't match. "His voice is so appealing though..." 

^_^x 

"What do you mean by '_Sessha_ invited her come here'?" Megumi shouted angrily at Kenshin. 

"Uh... _Sessha_ just means that he invited her come here, Megumi-dono..." he raised his open hands till his shoulders's heigh and swayed them, trying to calm down the woman. 

"For Kami's sake, are you crazy?" she blew out, then rocked her head, trying to calm down. "Ken-san! Can you see what you did, what you just submited the whole comunity to?" 

"Megumi-dono, _sessha_ can't see any threat on that girl..." 

"Ken-san! The outters will enter! Today this girl comes in, but in little time it will be the other citzens to come and expell us from our place! We'll be forced to settle up!" 

"Megumi-dono, _sessha_ thinks you are overreacting..." 

"Overreacting? Oh no, Ken-san! I'm not! I'm being realistic! This girl will surely tell a friend about her coming, the friend tells another friend, and so on! Within a two-week-time the mayor will think that all the teenagers in their city are coming here and being abduced by the 'strange humanoid creatures from the trees'." 

Kenshin bowed his head and thought about his friend's words. In fact, he himself knew nothing about that girl. All he could get was an impression of hers, but he could not say whether he could trust her or not -he just did. He started feeling then a bit guilty. "Be relaxed, Megumi-dono. _Sessha_ will fix this mess he made, he promisses." the ex-_rurouni_ thought to himself while peeling some carrots. 

^_^x 

From the nun's school a great amount of young girls and boys left calmly, some in groups, chattering; others were alone, attached to their books and briefcases. Kaoru was one of them, in her knee-long dark blue plaited skirt, her white blouse and her berret. She left school normally and leaded home, as if nothing had happened. When she reached a spot where no schoolmate would see her, she took off her shoes and socks, rushing sneakly to the forest. "Yes, I'm comming, Kenshin." 

^_^x 

After striding a while around the city, Sanosuke decided that it was the time for him to slip out from Akabeko, or he'd be in great trouble when he finally would. He climbed quickly the two flights of satirs that led to the room he rented. Tae followed him quietly, leaving the restaurant for Tsubame to take care. 

Getting at the top, she hid herself by the client's door and waited for him to leave the room, tiptoeing and carrying his backpack and his guitar. "Sagara-san!" she said in a loud voice, making him jump from his skin. He turned back slowly, his head burryed between his shoulders. 

"Yeah?" 

"Your bill is still there..." 

"Uh, I'll pay it when I check out, Tae-san..." 

"I see... Are you checking out yet?" 

"Uh... not really..." 

"So why are you carrying your stuff?" 

"Hm... I was... loading my motorcycle..." 

"Ah, don't worry! Leave it to Tsubame-chan." 

"B-But -t's too heavy for'er to carry..." 

"Oh, indeed. Washing dishes is also a heavy charge for her..." 

"Eh... I imagine..." he seemed puzzled. Yet scarred. 

"Nah... You can't imagine, Sagara-san... Hm... What do you think of paying your rent now?" 

"Not a good idea...", he frowned. 

"Hm... So why don't you land Tsubame-chan a hand on her dishes?" 

"Well, I'd be glad to help, but--" 

"Ah, you are such a kind man, Sagara-san!" she interrupted him with a wide smile, handing him an appron. "In retribution, I won't tell the police about your try to trick me! Thank you, Sagara-san!" 

"Uh... eh... ok...", he said, grabbing the apron and sighing sadly. 

^_^x 

Aoshi's presence was strange. Tall and thin, in his suit and his long trenchcoat, his hair short and cautiously composed, among those long-haired and unshaved men moving back and forth, shouting and whistling. "Wayward youth...", he muttered to himself. 

Misao watched from a hide-out for the approaching of someone odd on that place. When she could see the lanky figure of the lawyer among that crowd, looking from side to side, she barely believed that young and stalwart man could be the same one she talked on the phone to. "Well, it can't be but him. He looks like a lawyer... and he seems absolutely out of place here..." With this thought, she ran to meet that man and find out if he was the person she was searching for. 

"Uh, are you Shinomori Aoshi?" she said, looking up to the man in front of her. He looked down and crossed his arms. 

"Yes." 

"I called you some time ago, maybe one hour." 

"What?" 

"It was no Yumi. It was me." 

"You... Who are you?" he frowned, starting to ger mad. 

"I'm Makimachi Misao." 

"... who are you?" 

"Are you calling me unimportant?" she balled her fist and jumped in front of him. Patiently, the lawyer put his hand flat over the girl's head and pushed her down to the floor again. She recomposed herself and went on. "I need your help." 

"Calm down, elfin girl... I am the one to ask things. How--" 

"No time now, guy! I found a card of yours on the floor, I saw a woman's name on it and I got it, that's all! Now can you please help me?" she gabbled aloud, shaking her arms. Up-browned, he crossed his arms once again and waited for her to say her say. "Well, I lost someone." 

"My sincere condolences." he said flatly. 

"No! I mean, I REALLY lost someone! He vanished! He was with me till this morning and when I woke up he wasn't there anymore!" 

"Hm... then you pretended to be my fiancé, decieved me on the phone, made me come to this swamp and want me to find the person you lost?" 

"Uh... I think you got it..." 

"Hm..." he nodded. "Absolutely not." He turned and started moving away. 

"Ah, please, sir! You can charge me as much honorarium as you want!" she followed him. 

"I would surely do. And would you pay it?" 

"I'd surely not... But, please be reasonable..." She had started spilling all the -few- reasons he had to help her, when she saw Yahiko showing up from among the crowd. She abandoned Aoshi and ran to the boy, causing the lawyer to follow her in curiosity. 

"Yahiko, you little monster, where the hell were you?" she got red-faced and screamed at the boy. 

"Uh... I was around. I'd slept enough then I decided to wander a little and--" 

Misao jolted Yahiko's head, then hugged him, still talking angrily. "You brat! Don't you ever vanish like this again! Next time I'll wrap you like a gift and leave you at the most filthy restroom I'm able to find!" 

She panted because of having screamed so much and so quickly. Also because of how nervous she was -but this she wouldn't ever state. In an unexpected reaction, she held him even tighter and rocked him a little. She remembered she would be all alone, if it weren't for Yahiko, and almost shed a tear. But, since she was in a public place, she pushed back the tears, swallowed the fear and released the boy from her clutch, boxing his ears afterwards. Then, she turned to Aoshi and said, smily. "Thanks for the patience, Shinomori-sama. And sorry for my decieving you. I meant no harm." 

"Are you brother and sister?" he frowned, getting closer. 

"Nah, we're just--" Yahiko started, but a slight hand blocked his mouth, making him moan and groan hoping mad. 

"Yes, he's my younger brother, a very smart one, that's it!" Misao gave Aoshi a sickly smile, while the boy trashed about. 

"Ok, then... I am going. Be careful next time..." the lawyer turned round and left, yet a bit suspicious. 

When he had already left, Misao released Yahiko and told him off. "Hey! Are you crazy? How could you tell that man that we are no brothers? He's a lawyer, do you see? What if he wanted to investigate? He'd find out everything! Then, you know what? He'd tear us apart! He'd take me back to my parent's house. And you'd go to that orphan house again. Is that your wish?" 

"The last thing I'd rather have is that place again... Ok, from now on I'll keep quiet..." 

"You'd better do... And besides, what were you thinking? The band is about to leave! What if I hadn't found you?" 

"The band won't leave today. And I bet they won't leave for a looong time..." 

"Uh?" 

"The government said they're not regularly travelling. So they'll be stuck here until the investigation about their situatuon is over. And I bet it will take at least one month." 

"H-How do you know about it?" 

"I heard people talking when I woke up. I think they were in the staff." 

"Fuck!", Misao bellowed, making some people stop their affairs and look at her. She folded herself and wishpered to Yahiko. "We can't stay long here! Someone will take notice of us! They may tell somebody we're here! We can't be found!" 

"Hey! We may hide on the trees! At the other corner of the city there's a forest. We may cover up in there till the band leaves!" 

"Hm... Not a bad idea, Yahiko... So it's a deal, get your stuff under the truck and let's go!" 

^_^x 

Kaoru was exhausted of running and hiding from the city's eyes. She finally reached the border of the forest, where Kenshin had said she would find a path. There she was, there the path laid, but somehow, she felt quite affraid of getting in. She finally took a breath and stepped on the narrow way. "Now that I'm here I'll break into. There's nothing bad that may happen to me..." 

The path was narrow, but it was also clear and light. It felt silent and fresh, the sunlight flowing as if it was liquid from the spaces between the leaves, designing the trees on the ground. She walked barefoot, feeling the earth beneath her feet and an unexpected sensation of freedom all around her. 

After about ten minutes of walk, the girl got to a glade, where she could see a big crude building made by stone and wood, and some small fabric tents. Outside one of those tents she saw Kenshin's unmistakable red head, with his low and loose ponytail, a long black-haired tall woman by his side. She walked faster to meet him were he was, feeling easy for recognizing her friend amidst that unknow atmosphere. Realising there was someone standing by him, Kenshin turned his head to meet Kaoru's look. 

"Ah, hello, Kaoru-dono!", he smiled, raising himself and bowing forth. "That's Megumi-dono, whom _sessha_ talked about yesterday." He grabbed Megumi's wrist and pulled her closer to the newcomer. Kaoru smiled and bowed forth. Megumi retributed the reverence, a suspicious and annoyed look in her cinnamon eyes. 

This very moment two little girls came running and held Kenshin's hands, pulling him outside with all their (little) strenght. "Ken-nii! Ken-nii! Come see our flowers! Please, come see, Ken-nii!" 

"Ayame, Suzume, be calm!" Kenshin laughed, placing the later on his shoulders and raising the further on his folded arm. Chuckling at the girls' exasperation, he turned to the two women and smiled. "_Sessha_'s going to see the girls's flowers. Why don't you talk a bit while _sessha_'s away?" 

Kaoru smiled and nodded excitingly. After Kenshin had left with the two girls, Megumi sat down and looked to Kaoru. "I'll tell at once. I was very mad when Ken-san told me he invited an outter in." 

"I'm not an outter. I'm from this city..." 

"I mean, not from the comunity." 

"Well, I'm... I'm sorry to annoy you, I didn't--?" 

"Did you tell anybody you were coming here? 

"N-No..." 

"Are you sure?" Megumi raised herself, kind of threateningly. 

"I am! I didn't tell anybody! Besides, it costed me a lot of sweat not to be seen coming here." 

"Were you asahmed of coming here?" 

"No. I was affraid of what my dad's reaction would be. In fact, I know exactely what it would be..." Kaoru raised her eyebrowns, kind of cheerless. 

"What do you mean?" Megumi looked sideways. 

"I mean my father would get mad if he only knew I'm here... He would get mad if he knew I have a friend he doesn't know, a hippie friend. Someone free, just like I'd like to be..." 

"Hm, I see." Megumi reflected still for a couple of minutes, then sat down, smiling sideways. "Well, I can't say I know what it's like, because I've been on the road with the hippies for long... But I kind of understand." 

Kaoru faced Megumi, sheeply satisfied. 

^_^x 

His shirt was bundled on a chair, in the kitchen. A colossal pile of bowls, glasses, and knives was beside the sink. They had been washed for two hours by Sanosuke. There were still five or six dishes to be washed and the man did it with a great deal of fury and no patience. When finished with his chore, he took out the appron, dryed his hands and wore his blouse, heading to out of the Akabeko' kitchen. Outside, at the counter, Tae was giving attention to the clients. When Sanosuke broke out, she came to him, with her always smiling hearty-face. 

"Are you through yet, Sagara-san?" she said, putting the palms of her hands together. 

"Yeah..." he muttered. 

"Ah, good, then! So, I'll ask you to...check out, if you don't want me to sue you, understood?" 

"Don't tell it twice..." 

He was already leaving when she shouted to him "Ah! You still owe me half the fee!" 

Without turning round he sighed and went on. Outside, Tsubame followed him, keeping balance on her rollerskates. "Sagara-san... Did Tae-san make you wash the dishes?" she asked, almost pitifully. 

"Yeah... Why do ya ask so? Does she do it very often?" 

"Uh... Just when someone doesn't pay the fee... But please, don't get mad at her. She's a good person..." the girl hid her round face behind the empty tray she carried. 

"But she's a businesswoman... I know, Tsubame-chan... -t's my fault... 'get going, 'must find a place to stay." he said, petting the girl's head and walking away. 

Tsubame dared her eyes upon the tray and watched the leaving man. "He's not bad..." 

^_^x 

Kenshin had put the two little and hyperactive girls in bed and leaded to the tent where he had left Kaoru and Megumi, about two hours before. When he got back there, they were missing. Just Kaoru's shoes were there, near Megumi's medicine chest. "Oro?" 

The red-haired man got out once again and asked a man in the comunity for Megumi. He said she had gone to the riverside with another girl he had never seen. Kenshin thanked and ran to meet them, fearing Megumi would say something she shouldn't. 

Getting to the riverside, he saw Megumi chatting amusingly with Kaoru. They were sitting on the ground at the river shore, side by side 

"Kaoru-dono?" 

"Ken-san! Where were you?" Megumi asked. "It's not polite to leave the guests waiting for you! We live in the trees but we're not monkeys!" 

"_Sessha_ was taking care of Ayame and Suzumi..." 

"Right... Well, I think I'm going back to the glade." Megumi raised herself and vanished, leaving Kenshin and Kaoru alone. On purpose, of course. 

"_Sessha_ apologizes, Kaoru-dono... _Sessha_ didn't mean to take so long to come back..." 

"It's OK, Kenshin... Megumi brought me here." 

"Did you and Megumi-dono chat all this time?" Kenshin was still affraid Megumi had been harsh to Kaoru, even if he saw them chatting so amused. 

"Yes, she's very cool..." Kaoru giggled, then paused, hugging her legs. "The girls... Are they... Your daughters?" 

"Ah, no! _Sessha_ had no kids!" he laughed and grew a bit gloomy-faced. Then sat down by the girl's side, banging his body back and propping on his own arm. 

"_Had_?" 

"Forget about it..." 

"Euh... Ok, then..." she agreed, kind of suspicious. "If you don't mind my asking so... What did you use to do... I mean, before becoming a hippie? I mean, you weren't born a hippie, were you?" 

"No, _sessha_ was an auctioner at the stock market." 

"Hm... And why did you give up this other life?" 

"Because of stress. It was a hell... _Sessha_ started getting aware of how much time he was spending when he had to go to the army, to keep down the civil war on the north." 

Kaoru got wide-eyed, looking to the x-shaped scar on Kenshin's face. Remembering the news from ten years before -the adults used to hide from the children, but that she read on her father's papers without him knowing-, she got dumfounded, only able to let it slip from her mouth. "Battousai?" 

"Yes... _Sessha_ thinks Kaoru-dono remembered this alias. This is what the newspapers and all the media used to call _sessha_..." his violet eyes grew darker. "When _sessha_ could leave the army, he realised he killed many people he shouldn't. In fact, _sessha_'s mistake was fight in the army for something he didn't agree with. When _sessha_ finally took notice of how much evil he had done, he decided to live his life in peace, denying all that life had been to him until that moment, giving himself to people who needed him." 

"Ow, I see..." Kaoru couldn't hide her fright. 

"_Sessha_ knew Kaoru-dono would get scared. But believe: _sessha_ wants no harm anymore. Yet, if you feel threatened, _sessha_ doesn't blame you. _Sessha_ even understands. _Sessha_'s past is an eternal crest." 

"N-No. I'm not scared. I trust your word." Kaoru tried to fix the situation, while cursing herself innerly for "being so silly!". "And what about that 'being a _rurouni_ stuff?" 

"_ Sessha_ got regretful for having killed people, that's why he became a _rurouni_. But last year _sessha_ ran into this comunity and decided to stay and live a useful life, feel once again part of a society." 

"And... do you feel good this way?" 

"_Sessha_ found his place." A shaddow placed on Kaoru's face. Kenshin got closer. "Why did Kaoru-dono get sad?" 

"It reminds me I hadn't found my place yet... And maybe I will never find..." 

"Don't you say such things, Kaoru-dono. You are young, you have nothing to erase from your story. You can start freely." 

"Not freely... There are a lot of things censuring my story, Kenshin..." 

"You can't get freedom for free." 

"What can I do? How can I swim against a stream that's much stronger than me?" 

"_Sessha_'s sure Kaoru-dono is not weaker than any stream. Even if you were, every river has its hinderings for you to hold on." The red-haired man smiled and placed his hand on Kaoru's shoulder. The girl blushed very deep and quickly. 

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I'm going to have a heart attack!!!!" Megumi's shrieking voice riped the air and broke Kaoru and Kenshin's touch. She came stomping and making the birds flee. "You just can't imagine who DARED to come and ask us lodging!" 

Sanosuke's mischievous face peeped up from among the trees and showed up, smiling. "H'lo, ya there! I'll be staying heah for some time..." 

"Just after my death!" Megumi got in front of him and bowed her body forth, threateningly. 

"Huh, calm down, _kitsune-onna_!" he smiled, amused by the woman's rage. Kenshin and Kaoru could see Megumi's foxy aura raising from her body, as well as Sanosuke's rooster aura, facing each other just like their owners. 

"Hey you guys... Calm down!" Kaoru tried to meddle. 

"Eh... Peace and love!" Kenshin buged his eyes and got between the challengers, avoiding a physical attack. 

"Love! That's it!" Kaoru asserted, pulling Kenshin to her side, while Megumi and Sanosuke stood glaring each other. The two of the further hugged each other and sang in a choir, swinging from side to side. "'All you need is love... All you need is love... All you need is love, love...'" 

"Love is just bullshit..." Megumi completed the song her way, turning her back to Sanosuke and crossing her arms. 

"Euh... Megumi, can you please show me the things around?" Kaoru pulled her, trying to tear her apart from the guy. And so did Kenshin. 

"Come, Sanosuke! _Sessha_ is going to show you where to go, what to do..." 

"Please, show me where I can run into foxes, so that I'll avoid this kinda places." Sanosuke teased. 

"Do it, Kenshin. Tell him what to do. But I doubt that a lazy and dummy rooster can carry out with any chore..." Megumi answered. 

Kaoru and Kenshin faced each other. It looked as if they shared the same thought. "It will be hard to handle with..." 

^_^x 

Kaoru managed to take Megumi away from Sanosuke, so as to avoid troubles concerning them both, and so did Kenshin, who took the rooster-headed lad far. While the red-haired man showed the motorcycle rider the comunity, the two girls had decided to take a stride in the forest, profiting the cool weather and umidity among the trees, warmed up by some intruding rays of the sun. They looked rather alike, despite their physical disagreement. Megumi was tall and had a womanish body, with well-designed curves, glowing lips and a straight heavy hair, that fell over her back like a waterfall. Kaoru was quite shorter, with soft pitch-black hair and, in spite of her developed body, she looked in some ways kind of boyish, maybe due to her kendo trainning. 

"Ken-san told me how you met yesterday. He said you were crying..." 

"In fact I was... He was very kind to me..." 

"He's always a kind guy! This only makes him ever more a seducer!" Megumi placed her hand in front of her mouth and laughed foxily. 

Kaoru laughed sickily, then took a deep breath and asked faltering. "A-are you and Kenshin... I mean, is he... Are you his..." 

"You wanna know if we're married?" 

"Euh... Yes..." 

"Not really." Megumi laughed. "In fact, I did want it to be true when he first came to the comunity, but we became good friends with time and I realized he needed someone fragile, careless... Not me, of course, since I'm not included in any of this characters!" 

Kaoru sighed in relief. She had to manage to hide this from Megumi -"Am I jealous of him?"- , but the hippie woman was really smart: she obviously realised. She didn't say a word, nevertheless she watched amusedly the growing glow on Kaoru's face. "Yes! Jackpot, Megumi!", the foxy woman thought in silence, as she stared smiling at the girl's embarassment. "Kenshin, I'm finally gonna whip you a girl up!" 

On the other corner of the comunity, at the glade, Kenshin and Sanosuke were wakling side by side. The sun was coming down and a cool fresh breeze shook their hair. 

"The foxy girl's ill-tempered!" Sanosuke stated. "How do ya keep up?" 

"Megumi-dono is a good person." Kenshin smiled. "She just has short patience. And _sessha_ must say you blew up all the limits she could reach in meditation, _de gozaru yo_." 

"She's proud, that's it. A bombshell, though..." 

"Hehehehe, don't you dare to make her even more angry than she already is!" 

"What? Do ya think 'm gonna flirt with'er?" the spiky-haired guy gazed Kenshin skeptically. "Aw, c'mon! 'm not a suicidal! Besides, she's not that much. I'd never waste my time with a fussy girl like that one..." 

Kenshin smiled and touched the back of his neck. Sanosuke kept on talking. 

"She's so stormy tha' she interrupted ya and the _jou-chan_. Tell me, who's that cutie?" 

"Euh... _Sessha_ knew her yesterday, at a square, while you and Megumi-dono were arguing, _de gozaru yo_." 

"Uh, but she's a cutie..." Sanosuke squinted, designing a female body on the air with his hands. "Phew! Did you see those breasts?" 

"Well, sessha didn't--" Kenshin blushed and shook his hands, as he tried to clear up things, though Sanosuke interupted him. 

"'kay, 'must say the fox's are better, perfectly round and--" 

"Sanosuke, please!" Kesnhin finished the conversation. 

^_^x 

Yahiko was sitting beneath a tree's shade, Misao's head proped on his leg. She was sleeping heavily, her face had a neutral expression. Yahiko, on the other hand, was awake: in reality, he wasn't able to doze off. He had turned on his inner "red alert", so he wouldn't sleep while his companion was that vulnerable. 

His tinny head was full of thoughts. On the eve, Misao reminded him that the only things they had were each other and their mad adventures. That day he almost caused their tearing apart. Even being a strong and stubborn boy as he was, Yahiko was just ten years old, orphan and, as his companion -who he took as an older sister- said, all they had was their own and each other. "I don't want to get back to that orphan house, sis. I wanna stay with you, I wanna follow my future. I don't want to be stuck there as a rice pack, being told what to do until someone says me 'Get lost and become a man'. You are my family now, Misao." He looked down to his legs, where the girl slept uneasy. 

"Hmp..." Misao groaned asleep, then slowly opened her eyes, waking up. The sun wasn't high, but it hurt her eyes anyway, so she placed her hand over her head. "Hpmf, Ya... Yahiko-kun? Are you awake?" 

"Yeah. I didn't sleep." 

She raised herself, rubbing her eyes and yawning. "Didn't you? Aren't you sleepy?" Yahiko opened his mouth and meant to answer something, but Misao interrupted him. "By the way, I'm starving! You must be too, 'cuz we haven't eaten anything since morning. May you find us something to eat?" 

"Why don't you do it?" Yahiko yelled. 

"You're not sleepy but I am, and I gotta find a way to stay awake as well. I heard a gurgling from the east, so I'm gonna check if it's a creek or something like this." 

"Okay, okay... I'm gonna whip us something up..." Yahiko raised himself and took the path. 

As the boy walked further, Misao followed the sound till its source: it was a small stream hid by the trees, a pathway close to one shore and many rocks near to the other one. She was thirsty and the hot weather was making her almost faint, so she took her clothes off and entered the creek naked. "Hm! It's fresh!" she giggled, drawing into the water. 

She bathed for some more minutes, when she heard two female voices coming closer. The girl hid herself behind a kind of bush so as to pay attention to their conversation, looking sneakly from among the leaves. Soon, a couple of girls came and sat down near to where she was. 

"I'm telling you, Kaoru! That Sanosuke guy is a savage! A barbarian! Can you imagine he ran me over yesterday, riding a motorcycle like a wildman, running so fast downtown? He's not a piece of mankind, he's an asinine!" 

"Well, he doesn't look a bad man..." 

"BAD MAN? He's a daft! A beserk! That's what he is." 

Misao blinked twice. "Hey! It's the girl I though was going to be raped yesterday!" 

Kaoru giggled, while Megumi kept on cursing. Then, in a sudden glimpse, she saw some clothes scattered, near to a backpack. She reached for them, asking Megumi. "Whose clothes are those?" 

In an unexpected and impulsive movement, Misao got from her hide-out and stood on her foot the way she was -naked. "Hey, you there! Leave my stuff away!" 

Megumi and Kaoru buged their eyes to the flat-chested girl that exhibited her nudity with no shame, hands on her waist, protecting her belongings. As if it was a normal situation, Misao walked from the water, shivered her body so as to dry herself a little, took her stuff from the floor and, yet nude, she headed back to among the trees. "It's not allowed to a girl to bath anymore!" 

^_^x 

Back to the glade, Kaoru said farewell to the people and headed to her home. Kenshin went with her till the end of the path, finally having some time to talk to her peacefully. 

"Well, I think I have to go now." Kaoru smiled at Kenshin, the both of them standing at the borders of the forest. 

"Come back tomorrow if you can, Kaoru-dono!" Kenshin smiled as well. "And _sessha_ apologizes for all the mess! Thank you very much, _de gozaru yo_." 

Kaoru giggled, wearing back her shoes she kept away from her feet, then left. Kenshin came back to the glade. The girl looked back yet some times to see the _rurouni__'s red head getting far, far... till it vanished from sight. _

Everything seemed new that day to her: she had new friends and contact with a life she had never dreamed about knowing how it was. On her way back home, she wondered about how she could convince her father to let her act for herself without causing any argues. She loved her father, she didn't want to finish their relationship; she just wanted to be free, to have the right to be herself, without having to act or pretend or satisfy anybody's wishes about her. 

When she got home, neatly composed as a good student should be, closing the door silently while grabbing her books, her father was sitting. "Hello, Kaoru-chan." He said, not moving his sight from the newspaper. "Where have you been?" 

"At the library, _Otousan_. I was studying." She answered, heading upstairs to her room. 

"Hm, really? Good then..." 

She rushed to her bedroom, locked the door and turned on the phonoghraph, heaving herself on her bed without taking off her clothes or even her beret. 

^_^x 

"What an odd day..." 

Standing by his studio's door, Aoshi fumbled on his trenchcoat's pockets, trying to find his key: it was obviously at the exact pocket it was supposed to be, for he never misplaced his stuff and it wouldn't be different with his key or his trenchcoat's pocket. 

The day had been quite bizarre: it seemed that all odd and crazy clients had made up their minds to show up at Shinomori's office with their absurd cases that very day. Not to mention the young female crook, that one who tried to decieve him.... Makimachi Misao. And also that strange sun-haired brother of hers, Yahiko... Yahiko what? "What an absurd doubt, Aoshi." he thought to himself. "If they are brother and sister, it is obvious that his name is Makimachi Yahiko. But after all... what does it care?", he shook his head. 

Finding the object he looked for, he entered silently and closed the door, as if he was in an effort not to wake up the stove or the refrigerator, for there was nobody living with him but his appliances. He locked the door again and his hands seeked for the switch at the wall, for it was eight and a half in the night and it was really dark; lighting the lamp, he had an enormous yet frightening... 

"Surprise, _koishii_!" 

The weak light make him think for a while that there was the crazy elfin girl that attracted him to the Mud Headquarters in the morning, but squinting a little he saw it was the real and unmistakable Yumi, his fiancé herself. She was there, on his kitchen, sitting onto his table, wearing a red heavy gown. 

"Mi... Yumi... What are you doing here?" he asked skeptically. 

"I decided to drop by, _koishii_... I had to show you something..." 

"Uh, could not you wait until tomorrow?" he said, entering the kitchen and passing by his fiancé's side, his head down, loosening his tie and getting insido of his room. She untied the knot on her gown and let it slip, revealing a diaphane white sleeping dress, and said aloud so as to make him hear. 

"This is one of the sleeping dresses I'll wear with you." She folded her legs still sitting on the table at his kitchen. "I'd like to know if you like it..." 

"What are you talking ab--" he halted when he saw her. 

Aoshi got dumfounded. He meant to reaction to his fiancée's amazing attitude, just crossing his arms and looking her from head to toe. The lawyer's acting this way caused her to think he had in mind the same thing she did. Languidly she approached to him, pushed his coat -for his trenchcoat he had taken off at his room- and embraced him. He had no reaction. 

"So, _koishii_..." she stood on the tip of her toes, trying to reach his ear and whisper on it. "Did you like it?" 

"The gown is very beautiful..." he said, placing his hands on her elbows. Now it was her turn to get surprised -he pushed her away, delicate yet firmly. "But I want you to go home right now." 

"Why?" she cried out. 

"Because we are not married--" 

"Yet." she emphacized. 

"May that be. But the fact is that people will speak ill of you. And your parents will also be very disapointed. Now, go home." 

She meant to say something else, but he turned away and got to his room, leaving her alone. She sniffed, wore back the gown and left, slamming noisily the door behind her. 

^_^x 

A pair of bright-red eyes flamed among the trees while the city fell asleep. A sound of sandpaper being scratched and an evil light flashed in the darkness, laying lazily on a root that protuded from earth, dancing freely and expansive through the dry leaves. 

^_^x 

.:It's Me Again:. Hey, there. Once again I apologize for the lengh (ow, c'mon! I needed it!), for some of the characters had quite a... "strange" gathering. By the way, I also apologize for the time it took to be posted (last week I got sick. So, no PC). And I apologize for apologizing so much!  
Ah, I'd like to clear up a couple of lines, for some doubts peeped up by last chapter's posting, about Sanosuke's motorcycle. Harley-Davidson Motors started producing its first motorcycle models on 1961, as an option for replacing the scooters and they were merely -believe me!- one-cylinder potent. In 1966 they became quite popular, but obviously those were the very beginners, and the models weren't as modern and potent as we know them today. The stereotype we have of Harley-Davidson's riders (as well as their vehicles' outbreaking designs) became popular in the end of the 70's and first years of the 1980' decade. (if anyone's interested in motorcycles, I STRONGLY suggest Harley-Davidson's website, they have great stuff in there!)  
Hope you're enjoying all the fic. On next chapter, find out who owns this creepy red pair of eyes! 


	3. Honor, Trainning and Glowing Spectacle

.: Author's notes :. First of all: IIIII'M SOOOOO SORRY. AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH I'M SO SO-O-O-O-O-ORRY. (Why do you come here/ When you know it makes things hard for me?/ When you know/ Oh, why do you-- a-herm, sorry. I think I got too enthusiastic...). I'm sorry for the loooong period of absence. As I've already told on my bio, my pc -EVA 01- got sick, poor it... And it took me about six weeks to have it fixed. I apologize for the many -freaky- mistakes on last chapter. I guess I had been possessed when I wrote that... (joking) And I have also something to apologize for in advance: from now on, the updating may take a bit more (no more than three weeks, I hope), because I'm taking college entrance exams, and I'll have to study madly. So, don't be nasty to me, pleeeeeeeease? T_T'  
Mwahaha! Now the fic really STARTS! The thing's gonna get hot as fire! Now, to the third chapter! 

**Spring of '69**

**III-**

"Hmmmm! It smells like bread..." 

Beneath the first rays of the sun that fell piercingly from among the leaves smack in her ocean-green eyes, Misao sat up in a hurry, waking from her dream. Sniffing with sharp attention, she realized the scent in the air was no dream of hers -it was true. Finding the direction it came from, she violently shook Yahiko, who was splashed on the grass like a jellyfish. "Yahiko! Yahiko, wake up! I smell!" 

Yahiko didn't open his eyes. He just clasped the grass beneath his palms and muttered, tightening his teeth. "Wha'?" 

"Foooooooooooood!" the weasel-girl's eyes rolled glimmering at the sound of that word uttered by her own -and hungry- self. Her voice was a scratching whisper, much Gollum-like. 

Yahiko sat up, instable and sleepy, rubbing his eyes with no effort at all. "Uh?" 

"The scent! It's food! And it's near!" the girl said, getting up and grabbing her stuff. She took a couple of rushed steps but stopped dead when she noticed the boy didn't follow her. "C'mon, dude! I smell it!" her long braid whiped the air. 

"For Geddy's sake, Misao..." Yahiko trudged up, placing his backpack over his shoulders. "Smelling food out as a dog..." 

"Hey, I've been on the road for more than two years now! I had to pick up some animal skills, uh?" the girl winked and dragged her companion down by the collar. 

^_^x 

"Shinomori-sama?" the secretary hindered Aoshi's way to his office as soon as he got to the bureau. "The mayor has called right after you left yesterday." 

"Tell him I died." Aoshi slid the door open and entered his room without a glimpse on the secretary's face. 

"He says it's important, sir!" 

The lawyer sighed, a throbbing headache menacing his well-being. "If he calls again, give him my number. I will talk to him myself." he turned his back and, as if remembering something, looked back on the secretary. "And please, find me some coffee around." With that, he closed his office' door in front of the secretary, before she could ask him anything else. 

Aoshi sincerely liked his job. He liked all that cold red tape, for it matched him. But those last days, he was getting fed up with his later clients, as if he was choking with his once pleasure. His head ached. And it ached throbbing, in a very particular way, when his client was the mayor. The "old depraved pig", as the lawyer himself thought on the politician, always made him dizzy with work when bringing his confuse and absurd cases. Aoshi hated them. "Let us see what the flop is this time..." Aoshi sighed alone. 

^_^x 

After walking for some minutes amongst the trees, Yahiko and Misao got to a glade, where the scent came from. A bunch on fabric tents were put up and, near one of them, a big stone oven laid. The girl nudged her companion. "There! Food! Let's go!" 

Sneakily, the couple of friends crept to the inside a tent, where nobody seemed to be around. Misao ran her eyes from side to side, trying to find something she could eat. On a table, there was a basket full of healthy, bright vegetables, which made her eyes ogle as a beggar's ones. 

"May _sessha_ help you?" A red-haired man entered the tent, his long hair tied up and another basket on his arms, just when Misao prepared herself to steal some of the food on the table. The girl jumped from her skin and got dumbfounded: she was taken unawares, too soon for her to whip up an excuse properly. "Uh... erm... I... I mean, we..." 

"We came because of food." Yahiko nodded synthetically. "We came here to ask if you minded to give us some." 

The man smiled. "Ow, that's it then. _Sessha_'d be pleased to help, if you both would help our community in reward. In anything you know how to do. We're many in here, help is always welcome, as well as newcomers." 

"It's a deal." Yahiko shook the man's hand, as an alliance being made out. 

"Wow, sometimes his sincerity amazes me..." Misao made a mental statement, while raising her eyebrows. 

"Let _sessha_ introduce himself. _Sessha_'s name is Himura Kenshin." the hippie bowed. "And you are...?" 

"I'm Yahiko, and that's my sister, Misao." The boy smiled and fixed himself into his clothes, seeming to be amused by the man. 

"Sister, uh? OK, then..." Kenshin nodded thoughtfully. "So, could you please give me a hand while I prepare you some breakfast? Can one of you peel me those vegetables?" The man asked, placing the basket he had brought on the table. 

"Hey, Misao. It's women job." Yahiko jeered, handing her a knife and heaving himself lazily on the floor. 

Misao took the knife and crowned the boy just afterwards. "Useless brat." 

Before Yahiko could have any reaction, a woman entered firm and carelessly, speaking easy and barely looking around from inside her bossy aura. "Good morning, Ken-san. Is breakfast ready yet? I'm so hungr--" The woman suddenly stopped when finally taking a glimpse on the couple of friends. She stared sideways, a bit suspicious "Hi... Who are you?" 

"Newcomers, Megumi-dono. They came asking for some food, and they agreed to help us in response" Kenshin said, leading to the big stone oven and returning in with a big newly-baked piece of bread on a wooden tray. 

"Ow, ow, ow... It doesn't look good to me..." Megumi shook her head worriedly. "And why on earth you kids don't eat at home?" 

Misao scratched the back of her head. "Uh... well... Our mom left to work very early and she forgot to prepare our breakfast and--" 

"Hey sis, cut it out!" Yahiko interrupted the girl's excuse. "I don't think we have to lie to them." 

"You clumsy brat, shut this big bazoo of yours up..." Misao glared at the boy and muttered softly, her face growing paler and paler. 

"Wake up! They're hippies, they'll understand us!" Yahiko turned to the couple of hippies. "The truth is that we're--" 

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Misao jumped over the boy, hampering his mouth with her hand and causing him to topple over. With that, a battle settled down between the couple of friends, Kenshin and Megumi just staring the twister conjured by their fray. 

"Ahrm... If you both don't mind _sessha_'s interrupting..." Kenshin tried to meddle, oro-faced, while Misao and Yahiko kept on tangling. "_Sessha_ must say he has a clue about why you're here... Could it be because you're outers?" 

Out of the blue, the bickering ceased. Yahiko and Misao stood still on their very positions, looking startled to Kenshin, the girl over the boy while holding him by the collar, fist pointing to his face. "Uh... Yeah... How do you know?" the weasel babbled. 

Kenshin chuckled. "_Sessha_ imagined. Besides, _sessha_ is a _rurouni_, _sessha_ remembers having seen you both somewhere around the country." 

"Oh, really?" Misao got up wide-eyed. "And where was it?" 

"Hmmmmm... _Sessha_ can't remember..." Kenshin scratched the back of his neck. "_Sessha_ just remembers you were running away from the police..." 

"Euh... was it in Tokyo?" Misao raised her shoulders in question. 

"_Sessha_ hasn't been to Tokyo for ten years..." 

"Was it in Osaka?" Yahiko risked, as Kenshin gave him a slice of hot bread. 

"No, no..." 

"Yokohama!" the girl pointed 

"_Sessha_ doesn't think so..." 

"Kobe?" 

"Nnnn...no." 

"Erm... Nagoya?" 

"No, no. You were running away from the police." 

"Ow, I can't remember all the places where we ran away from the police!" the weasel concluded, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Megumi bugged her eyes in astonishment. "Hmmm... Was it in Kyoto?" 

"Yes!" Kenshin cheered. "Kyoto! It was in Kyoto!" 

"But in Kyoto we didn't run away from the police!" Misao frowned, making Kenshin fall backwards, legs up. 

"Yes we did." Yahiko meddled, the mouth full of bread. "We stole the policeman's wallet." 

"Oh, indeed..." 

"Ken-san!" Megumi shrieked. "They're pickpockets!" 

"No, we're not!" the boy said angrily. "We just did this once!" 

"As a matter of security, burry the money, Ken-san." 

Kenshin laughed and placed, in front of each of the three, a slice of bread and a glass of tea. For a while they ate silently, as the sun grew higher in the sky with little effort, a soft breeze shaking the tent and moving away something that blocked the light in. A ray of sun fell right over Megumi and detached her expression to Misao, who shouted her surprise on recognizing the familiar face. "Hey! You're the woman I thought that was going to be raped the day before yesterday!" 

Megumi looked at the girl and squinted, realizing she also knew her. "And... You're the naked girl from the river!" With that, the both of them burst into loud laugher, Yahiko and Kenshin understanding nothing about those strange epithets. Some seconds of laugh and Megumi was able to speak again. "Hey, you're a real crackpots. But... What is it about 'being raped' stuff? I don't remember being threatened by any rapist..." 

"Oh, and indeed, I guess you weren't. Yahiko and I mistook it. We saw you arguing with a tall man the day before yesterday, late at night. We thought he'd attack you, so we knocked him down just when you were leaving..." 

From an intricate expression, Megumi turned to thoughtful, then amused, finally bursting into laugher again. "MWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! It means you assaulted that berserk?" 

"We did." Misao chuckled. "But it was a mistake of ours, he was no criminal. In fact, he's a nice guy." 

"NICE GUY? Oh, it's obvious you're too young to recognize a crook when you see one." Megumi sipped her tea. "That man is a piece of some strange species, stupid and rude. A daft, that's it." 

"Hey, foxy fox..." A bassy voice came into the tent behind Megumi, causing her to spit the tea she was drinking, a vein popping up on her forehead. "Ya don' get through with praising me, uh?" 

Red and smoking, the woman balled her fist and turned angrily to the coming man -the same one she was talking about. "Serves you right." 

Sanosuke chuckled, finally taking notice of Misao and Yahiko's presence. "Hey! My two trouble-friends! What are ya doin' here? Did ya come to cadge Kenshin's food, uh?" the motorcycle rider crowned the boy, messing his hair. 

"Eh... hehehe, come on! Do I look like a food-thief?" Misao crossed her arms and cocked her head, while Kenshin pushed a chuckle back, slicing bread to the other dwellers at the community. 

"They'll help us in retribution." Megumi spoke out. "They're not lazy and useless people, like a certain rooster-head I know." 

"Glad yoah not talkin'a me." Sanosuke mocked, gazing fixedly to the woman's angry look. "For I can do a lotta things around." 

"YOU?" Megumi jeered. "I bet my neck you don't." 

"Oh, ya do? So I guess someone's gonna loose the head." 

"Erm..." Misao sweatdropped, feeling the atmosphere get dense. "Sa-Sano, why don't you find Himura some firewood? He's willing for a lot of firewood, isn't it, Himura" 

"Yes, Misao-dono. Very much! _Sessha_ needs a lot of firewood!" Kenshin pulled Sanosuke by his strip with great effort, while the later kept on staring mockingly at Megumi. "Would you mind find _sessha_ some, Sano?" 

"Nah really, Kenshin." Sanosuke finally took his eyes from the foxy woman, looking to the red-haired man. "Leave tha'to me." With that, the motorcycle rider turned round and meant to leave the tent. 

"Nice, then" Kenshin smiled. "Near the stone oven there's a hatchet." 

"F'get about it. I'll need none." 

"Yes, he will need none." Megumi teased. "He will cut the wood with this hard rooster-head of his." 

Sanosuke meant to answer, but Kenshin dragged him out of the tent, avoiding further argues. Once again silence settled down for some short minutes. Suddenly, the four of the remaining at the tent felt the ground quiver beneath their feet and heard a loud and frightening noise that made them jump from their skins. 

_BUMmmm! -crack, crack, craaaaaack... KABOOOOF._

"K-K-Ken-san! What was it?" Megumi retreated. "Could it be another earthquake?" 

"_Sessha_ doubts it, Megumi-dono." Kenshin looked around wide-eyed, sharpening his ears. "See? The sound ceased." 

Some seconds of silence ensued, then Sanosuke came back, a great bunch of wood in his arms, a wide provoking smile on his face. "Here's the wood." 

Three startled pairs of eyes -Misao's, Yahiko's and Kenshin's- nourished the motorcycle rider's pride, while Megumi chuckled in dismiss. "That's the source of that noise. He must have cut the wood with his hard hair full of brilliantine." 

"Swallow the tongue, fox." A vein peeped up in a forehead again, this time on Sanosuke's. "Tha's no brilliantine. It's my hair's natural bulk." 

"Oh, I imagine. There must be beams sustaining it, coming from inside your head. That's why you're such an asinine: the beams take your brain's room." 

Megumi laughed foxily. Face that, Sanosuke just placed the firewood on the floor, uttering loud. "I'll let ya know, fox, that I had cut it with my own hands." He raised his right fist proudly, torn bandages around it, blood and splinters all over. Megumi opened her eyes wide and ran towards him. 

"You mad! What did you do?" 

"-t's named 'Futae-no-kiwami', -t's a technique that--" 

"That wrecks your hand if you're such an idiot, that's it!" The woman lost her temper and dragged the motorcycle rider by his left wrist out of the tent, shouting inwards. "Ken-san, boil me some water, please." 

"Hey fox, worried 'bout me now?" 

"Shut up, I'm just doing what I'm supposed to." 

"Hey, cut it off. I'm used to it, I'll see a doc later and--" 

"I am the doctor here and I'm telling you to damn shut up!" Megumi pulled Sanosuke into another tent, making him sit down on a wooden crude chair. 

"Doctor?" the man repeated astonished. The woman ignored his intricate look and, still outside, summoned a man who passed and asked him to bring her some fresh water. With that, she ran to a crudely made counter inside the tent. Sanosuke just watched, running his eyes around. 

Of all the tents he had seen on the community, that one seemed to be the most organized one. There were two chairs -he was sitting on one of them- and a table between them. Towards the chair he was sitting on, a counter stood. Megumi fumbled something by it, her back to the man. To its right, a wide wooden display, with many shelves. On them laid strange stuff, that Sanosuke imagined to be Megumi's working material: a pile of white pieces of fabric, packs full of leaves, glasses filled with light liquids, a few others labeled, filled with lab drugs every now and then. On a corner, a bunch of metallic devices, such as scissors -and other stuff Sanosuke didn't know how to name- shone clearly, revealing no rust or dent on them. All the air was filled with slight sandalwood scent. 

Megumi had already had fresh water on her when Kenshin came with a bucket, full of boiled water. She filled up a big bowl with it, spilled some herbs in and placed the bowl on the table, right in front of Sanosuke. Picking out the pincers, she sat in front of him and pulled his injured hand, in order to keep it right above the smoke that swirled up from the bowl. 

"Whadda hell are ya doin'?" Sanosuke muttered, while the doctor took off his tattered bandages. 

"Sh! I'm preparing a brew with some leaves. While it gets ready, I'm taking advantage of the warmth." Megumi roared. 

"Why to?" 

"So as to make it easier to take all this splinters. Now shut up an let me work!" Megumi scrutinized Sanosuke's hand, sighing to herself. "How on Earth will I get through with them all?" 

Sanosuke got silent, lowered his head and looked from the corner of his eye. He just heeded Megumi's dedication to her work, her concentration while she pulled gently the thrust pieces of wood from his hand. Her cinnamon-eyes looked much sharper and her lips, tight due to her attention, glowing much more then when he argued with her. His paying attention to her work just made Sanosuke realize two things. That the doctor was even more beautiful than he first considered her. And that the sandalwood scent came from Megumi's hair. 

^_^x 

The day was hot and bright, though the sun didn't seem very sure about its willing to stay awake till sunset. The effort of making light was not very high and, even like this, Aoshi was feeling disturbed. 

From outside his office came the flat sound of his secretary's hitting the typewriter. Nobody had shown up on his bureau the whole morning but the sun, for it knew Aoshi hated it. The lawyer closed the blinds and heaved himself on his chair, his head throbbing as if it was about to blow up. Suddenly, the typewriting sound ceased. "Oh, no. Do not come here...", he buried his face on his bowled hands. 

"Shinomori-sama?" the secretary opened the door slightly. "The mayor is waiting outside. Shall I show him in?" 

"Please." Aoshi said, while his head meant to ask. "Do I have any choice?" 

In no time, the mayor Nenji Kashiwazaki, as known as Okina in politic scenery, entered Aoshi's bureau, his portfolio on his hand, a green ribbon on his beard matching his tie. "Hi Aoshi-chan, my boy!" the old man winked, bowing to the lawyer. 

"How do you do, Okina-sama?" Aoshi bowed formally in response, sitting down on his chair afterwards. 

"Ahm, fine, fine." the mayor sat down, not waiting for the lawyer to finish his movement of showing down the chair. Aoshi patched another movement on, scratching the top of his head. "Some boring stuff around, problems with my granddaughter, but in general, no news. You know, I got a cold that--" 

"A-rhem" Aoshi raised his eyebrows and coughed loud, ripping the conversation. "What is the matter that brings you to my bureau?" 

"Oh, yes. I have a little work for you." 

"I must say I have got work enough, maybe I will not be able to help you, sir. As you must know already, I will get married in two months." 

"Oh, I see. The wedding's getting closer, uh? But unfortunately I really NEED it to be you, Aoshi-chan." 

"Well, I am sure I can indicate some good lawyers, of maximum trust, that can easily replace me and--" 

"None of them is liable to me, for none of them grew up in a traditional _onmitsu_ family." 

Aoshi took his magic cube from a drawer, for he knew exactly what conversation to expect. Yet, he simply hated when Okina persuaded him to work on his absurd cases by reminding him of his _ninja_ blood and the strict and long relationship between his family and the mayor's. 

"I will need, not only a righteous and proficient lawyer, but also a skilled and well-instructed _ninja_, someone creepy, who can sneak around without being noticed. That means you." 

"I am a lawyer, not a thief, Okina-sama." Aoshi built a green line and spun it left. "I work in complete transparency, rigorously into the limits of law." 

"As a good lawyer, you must know some criminals must be trapped out of what law offers you." 

Aoshi stopped fumbling his magic cube, placed his flat hands on his desk and, propping on them, bowed forth, a cold look in his eyes. "Do not ever try to teach me my work" 

"I don't." Okina raised his flat hands. "If I could, I wouldn't be asking for your services." Aoshi straightened his spine back on his chair and crossed his arms, as a signal of his paying attention. Okina smiled and took a brown envelope from his portfolio, handing it to the lawyer just afterwards. Aoshi opened it and started examining its content. "Tell me, what do you think?" 

The young lawyer raised an eyebrow. "Okina-sama, I must remind you I am about to get married. And the contents of this envelope are something my fiancé certainly would not enjoy." The mayor looked to the envelope he had handed Aoshi. His eyes bugged face the red writing on it's front: "Tits all over". 

"Erm, that's the wrong envelope." Okina smiled sickly, taking the envelope -as well as its content- from Aoshi's hands with a dash and replacing it clumsily on his portfolio, from where he took another brown envelope. "That's the right one." he said, handing it to Aoshi. 

The lawyer took the envelope and examined its content: an unsigned contract and some newspaper pieces. "'Electricity rationing can affect seventeen cities on the north'" Aoshi read one of the headlines aloud, then went on reading the same news. "'Electric Wheel Inc. president, Denkou Mittsuu, says power plants' generation systems are overloaded". Shuffling the news, the lawyer took another one. "'Burnt forests get The Greens worried - Environment protectors demand strict action against illegal devastation of green areas and ancient forests'". Yet scrutinizing the papers the mayor gave him, Aoshi reached for the unsigned contract among them. "As I can see, it is a contract for bestowal of a terrain upon the power generation company, the Electric Wheel Inc." the lawyer frowned. 

"On the bull's eye." Okina pointed. "Electric Wheel Inc. stated the systems would break down for overloading. Another company would enter the ranking and share the charge on the electricity distribution." 

"Let me guess. Sharing the distribution, Electric Wheel Inc. will also share the profits, and they did not accept the solution, am I right?" 

"Yes, Aoshi-chan." 

"Well, and why does the government yield to the demands of Electric Wheel Inc.?" 

"It's not a question of yielding to their wishes. The competitor is a small new company, they wouldn't carry out with all the charge if Electric Wheel Inc. would step out of the ranking." 

"I see. And, face this contract, I imagine Electric Wheel Inc. have no money to build another power plant." 

"Oh, they do. But they have no ground. They meant to buy a huge green area and devastate it, but the city's government didn't accept this project. We don't wanna get a fray on The Greens." 

"Fine. So, our city's government will subside them a terrain, right? What is the problem then?" 

"The problem is: they need too much room for it, and it's mandatory for them not to pollute the green areas around or water sources. Those were the conditions for signing the contract. But the two of these needs are impossible to conciliate." Okina unwrapped a gum and seized it with his mouth. "Though, the contract says nothing about previously devasted and polluted areas." 

"So you suspect the devastation on the forests to the north of our city is being provoked intentionally by the Electric Wheel Inc.?" Aoshi brushed his newly shaved face. 

^_^x 

"Dad? Daddy? _Otousan_ are you there?" 

When arriving at home from school, Kaoru saw no trace of anybody home but herself. Leaving her stuff to a corner, the girl ran to the kitchen, where a post-it had been attached on the refrigerator's door. Recognizing the father's calligraphy, Kaoru detached it and read. "Kaoru-chan, the maid's missing and dad's at the _dojo_. I cooked something for you to have lunch, but don't wait for me to have dinner. Take care, _Otousan_." Kaoru chuckled, a mischievous idea on her mind. She got upstairs to take a shower, her spirits up, for her father's being at the _dojo_ meant they finally had a new student. Kaoru knew teaching was something her father had been missing for long. 

Kaoru was kind of a buff on her father. Kamiya-sensei had taught the _Kamiya Kasshin_ all along his life. He was a talented swordsman and an honored man, and his noble spirit made him succeed on his style, for its philosophy was "sword protecting life". Since she could remember, Kaoru identified herself much more with her father than with her mother. She couldn't define what was the cause and what was the consequence, but the fact is that, despite all the girls, she didn't watch her mother cooking; instead, she took _kendo_ classes with her father. Her mirroring was so intense, that sometimes she got convinced that she was her own father female-like. The only disagreement between their personalities -and the only spot Kaoru believed not to understand her father- was his anachronic behavior about Kaoru's future. In a time when all families dreamed about the girl's graduating and being independent, yet still womanish, Kamiya-sensei insisted in getting his daughter married, as if they lived in the nineteenth century. 

The girl wore her training clothes, placed her _bokken_ on her _hakama_'s knot and got to the kitchen once again. Suspicious, she checked out what had been left inside of the pans by her father. The meal had a strange look, no smell and it tasted awfully bad. Kaoru drank a full glass of water and left, laughing inside. She knew cooking wasn't something her father was really good at. As a matter of fact, nobody in her family was, including herself. With that, she took her way to the hippie community. 

^_^x 

Aoshi wore his trenchcoat, got out of his room and slid its door closed. He headed to his bureau's door, when the secretary called him back. "Shinomori-sama? Are you leaving yet?" 

"Yes. If any client comes, tell him not to expect me before tomorrow, by about ten AM." The lawyer said leaving. In his head, a brief summary about the places he kept each of his stuff at home. His mind summoned a specific place, where he kept his favorite weapons. "Time to wake up." 

^_^x 

When Kaoru got to the community she had to be introduced to the newcomers, Yahiko and Misao. Also she recognized the later by her sudden appearance at the river, naked and furious, the previous day. After cadging some lunch, she vanished amongst the trees in order to train her skills. Yet, she felt annoyed, for she hadn't had a real opponent for over six months then. She had never hurt anybody, neither had she had this intention, but she liked to handle with people, not only with dummies. 

She stopped not far from the glade, took a deep breath and raised guard, her eyes and ears sharpened with attention. Her gracious movements started slow and retracted, evoluting till she finally jumped and turned round with impressive speed, accurate and freely, always hitting her unreal challengers and ripping nothing but the air. 

A sudden noise took Kaoru out from her concentration. 

The girl looked rapidly to her left, where the sound came from, a creepy crackle such as squeezed dry leaves. Kaoru looked all around, fearing it to be someone who could find her there, but finally concluded it might have been some fruit or seed falling to the ground, for it was an isolated sound, not a sequel of them such as steps. Yet, looking to her left for the second time, she had the clear impression of seeing a shadow running, yet dumbly, a glowing spot shining afterwards. Apprehensively, she got back to the glade, in order to tell Kenshin and Megumi about what she had seen back in there. But, when getting to the glade, a special scene called her attention and pushed her back. 

Yahiko, the weasel's brother, was handling a _shinai_. His standing was man-like, adult and determined. He seemed to be training obvious initiating steps, movements that didn't reveal any style. Kenshin, passing by his side, whispered gently. "Hey, if _sessha_ was you, he'd hold the _tsuka_ like this." The _rurouni_ re-arranged the boy's hands position. "Yeah, just like this." 

"Hey, Kenshin." the boy said seriously, trying out the effects of this new position. "Do you fight?" 

"_Sessha_ used to fight on his early days. But nowadays, _sessha_ just practices _kendo_." 

Kaoru watched still while the boy waved his bamboo sword. Kenshin noticed her presence and looked fixedly at her. She didn't lower her head, as she'd do if that situation had happened the previous day. She sustained her look on the _rurouni_'s violet eyes and, with no why, a strange poignancy warmed her body from the downside of her feet till her throat. Maybe it was the opportunity she had to teach. As if reading Kaoru's mind, without taking his eyes from hers, Kenshin placed his hand on Yahiko's shoulder. "Why don't you ask Kaoru-dono to teach you? Did you know she's mastered on her style?" 

The girl smiled, as if thanking Kenshin for giving her credit. As the boy nodded and left to meet Kaoru, a few yards away, the distant clutch of her eyes lingered, yet the wide and thankful smile stood. To the _rurouni_, that smile was enough a "thank you". 

^_^x 

The day had fainted slowly and dull, little by little till night settled down. Among the trees, a lonely shadow rushed through the dark without making the slightest noise. Its blood-red eyes shone bright each time they looked back to the hot light exhaled by the burning oaks, pitch-black smoke swirling up as if devilish clouds were pouring fire down. Not long time after, the first desperate screams and alarms could be heard. The shadow curled up on a tree's crown and vanished. 

The despair crusted in the screams of his companions woke Kenshin up. The _rurouni_ had the old habit of not laying down to sleep, sitting instead, his sword propped on his shoulder. This custom allowed him to be _en guarde_ each time he had a sudden waking up like that one. His sharp violet eyes looking frantically to every corner, Kenshin didn't hesitate to tie his sword' scabbard on his _hakama_ and rush to outside the tent he slept in. He didn't have to take too many steps to see the threatening smoke that rose to the sky from a glowing spot among the trees. All the community was a great hustle-and-bustle, people carrying buckets full of water from the riverside. "Ken-san!" the _rurouni_ could hear Megumi's voice calling him, then see the doctor that came running, a disheartened look in her eyes. "Ken-san, the forest's burning!" 

"How? How come?" Kenshin wigged his head, instable violet eyes not knowing where to look. 

"I don't know, what does it matter now? We must stop it!" the woman dragged Kenshin down to help. 

Not distant from there, while the trees were engulfed by the fire and the hippies tried to light it out, a black figure stopped dead from his running towards the flames. Aoshi, the lawyer, replaced his both _kodachi_ in the scabbard and took his long blue-black wicks from his sweaty face. "Too late. I came too late..." 

Avoiding to be seen without a real need to it, the _ninja_ managed to slip out. Also too late, for a pair of ocean-green eyes had already took notice of his presence in there. "That cold lawyer..." Misao scratched her chin suspiciously. "What is he doing here, smack at the time when fire is destroying the trees?" 

^_^x 

.:It's Me Again:. Now the plot really comes out. So, does this fic suck too much? Or else, do you like it? I hope so, but it's you to say it! Thanks for the reviews (yet I'm not exactly a good writer, I'm trying my best, believe me!) and also for the non-reviewer readers. **Next chapter:** an unexpected incident gathers all the people interested in finding out who's that one that's meddling in the forest's affairs! 


	4. After the Ashes

.: Author's notes :. Hmmmm... I guess no previous explanations are demanded to this chapter. Maybe it'd be more interesting if I chewed the fat after it; thus, back to the story! 

**Spring of '69**

**IV-**

Clouds covered the sky and made the day darker than it usually was. Black smoke was still hanging over the city by the time the first rooster crew. 

"Love is the shadow that ripens the wine... Set the controls of the heart of the sun... the heart of the sun, the heart of the-- ITAI!" 

"Shut up, rooster-head! I wanna sleep!" Megumi flung a shoe over the singing Sanosuke, and it struck him smack on the head. 

By the motorcycle rider's side, right on the center of the glade, Kenshin was sitting, his head worriedly down, his violet eyes covered with dark mist. Sanosuke didn't seem to notice his friend's concernment, while just nagging and brushing his head. "-t's not enough notta be able to play the guitar properly. Noooooo! Now, I gotta shut up too. Wha' comes next? Will I have to starve?" 

"Megumi-dono's sleepy, Sano-kun... She stayed up all the night, trying to light out the fire..." Kenshin's flat voice came to bring Sanosuke afloat to reality. The _rurouni_ didn't move his eyes or his head while talking, as if involved by another aura but his own. The motorcycle rider blinked twice. 

"Hey, Kenshin. We all did. And we've done all we could..." Sanosuke ran his eyes around. Desolation could be seen from there, concrete as the soot that floated with the wind and the smell of burnt leaves that melted with their clothes. Looking behind, the man saw a wide empty spot among the trees, where once there had been lofty oaks. But then, only ashes laid, blackening what had once been bright green. "And yet, all we could was not enough." 

Kenshin still didn't move. "It could have been worse. We must thank Kami-sama for the untouched trees." 

"And also for nobody having got hurt, isn't it?" 

"Everybody got hurt, Sano. It's our home. It's the place we have chosen to build a new life, to raise our children. Burning the trees feels the same as burning our lives." Kenshin closed his eyes and looked to himself. Sanosuke felt a lump on his throat. Never had he imagined a place could mean that much to people, but seeing the sad expression on Kenshin's face he could even figure out his friend crying upon his own grave. 

"The trees'll grow again, man. Nothing else'll spoil yoah lives. Don't be that down... " 

"This wasn't the first, neither will it be the last." 

"Wha'?" Sanosuke frowned. "Whaddaya mean? 

Kenshin finally opened his eyes again. "Two weeks ago another spot of fire showed up, to the east." Sanosuke turned his head to the direction his friend talked about, while the later went on gravely. "_Sessha_ imagined it to be an isolated situation, such as that ones that happens in every forest. But _sessha_ started to get concerned when he heard a couple of lines about fire down to other cities. _Sessha_ said nothing to the others though. The day before yesterday, _sessha_ could light a fire spot out, near the riverside. _Sessha_ meant to tell everybody about it, but he didn't even had time to do it, before last night's events." 

"Wha' do ya have in mind, Kenshin?" Sanosuke cocked his head and looked aside to the hippie. 

"_Sessha_'s sure this fire's not a mere coincidence." 

^_^x 

When Kaoru left to school, his father was getting ready to go to the _dojo_. Her suspects were confirmed gladly by Kamiya-sensei the previous night: he finally had a new student. The _Kamiya Kasshin_ master was so enthusiastic that the girl didn't have the courage to tell him she was often dropping by the hippie community after school and decided to delay the news a bit more. 

The girl walked calmly, finding quaint the thickness of the air. When she got to the school, everybody was speaking soft and sneakily. She silently went up to her classroom, where she heard a classmate whisper to another one. "Did you know yet? The forest burned! They say the hippies set it on fire!" 

As the spoken girl hid her mouth with her flat hands, Kaoru pushed back a shriek from the depths of her throat. She felt her heart being squeezed, as she willed to get out and rush to the community. "Kenshin..." 

^_^x 

"Shinomori speaking." 

"Get out of my heels." A metallic voice trembled from the other side. And before Aoshi could ask who it was, he heard the abandoning doo-doo-dooing. 

"Hello? Hello?" The lawyer tried to get an answer, but it was too late. He hung the phone back and replaced his head on his pillow, processing data about the fast and disturbing phone call. "What a nice way to wake up..." He thought, while getting undressed to take a shower. 

Aoshi sank naked in the hot water, feeling his stiffened muscles get more and more relaxed at each second. "Damn." He said aloud, from inside his controlled and superb self. The scent of his own body came with the vapor trails to his nose, making him curse: throughout himself, the smell of failure, a smell he had never exhaled before. "I must draw into this case: now this turned to a matter of honor. I will solve this, otherwise I shall not call myself an _onmitsu_ anymore." 

^_^x 

By noon, Kaoru rushed out of school and got home: nobody was there, what meant that her father was at the _dojo_ again. Worriedly, she didn't care for leaving Kamiya-sensei any explanation about her going out, for she meant to be back before him. Whizzing as an arrow, she ran towards the community, her heart pulling west. "I hope Kenshin and the others are alright..." 

The glade was still. After the tragic events on the forest people didn't speak much and walked slowly, but little by little routine was being re-established. Yet from the pathway, Kaoru ran her eyes around, but saw no trace of Kenshin's. 

"Hey Kaoru!" The girl turned her head around to meet Megumi's look. She smiled happily for the doctor's being OK. 

"Hello, Megumi. I heard the news... What on earth really happened?" 

The doctor told her the events, getting the girl concerned and surprised. She was glad nobody got hurt, but her thoughts were mainly over the _rurouni_, about his health and his spirits. 

"And... where's Kenshin?" 

Megumi pointed to the direction where the fire once licked the trees. "He must be there now. In situations like this one, he usually sulks. But I bet he'd love to talk to you. Go ahead, girl." 

Kaoru trembled. She held her breath and looked far ahead to the shown spot, maybe envisaging Kenshin's standing there. All alone. A smile formed unsteadily on her face while she thanked Megumi with a short nod and took the first steps towards the place where the fire had once been set. 

The girl didn't have to walk too much to get to the destruction spot. Another glade, little shorter than the one where the community settled down, seemed to have been created out of nothing; this new one had a mournful look though, nothing there that reminded the cooperating hippies stood. There was no grass and no green, no flower grown. Half a dozen huge tree's carcasses laid down to the ground, a couple of them irreversibly burnt. A scene that reminded her a black-and-white Charlie's tape on the drive-in: the monochromatic and desolated place contrasting with the green and the distant gurgling of the stream. Her heart ached face the thought that this tape wouldn't end. 

Sitting on a branch, Kenshin. He seemed to be asleep. 

Her heart dumping the blood awkwardly on her head, Kaoru approached to the man and raised her hand. She hesitated for a while, then finally touched gently Kenshin's shoulder. "It's nice to have you here, Kaoru-dono." The _rurouni_ said without opening his eyes. Kaoru faltered, then smiled and sat by his side, not saying a word. 

They stood like that for some minutes then on, the both of them staring nowhere ahead, their look seeming to pass through the soot and mud. Kenshin was the one to break the silence, drawing themselves closer to each other each time he filled his lungs. "_Sessha_'s seen many sweat and cries over the dead forest last night. Thus _sessha_ promised to himself and to all his companions that the trees will not be violated again. Not a ounce of disappointment will hang over our heads anymore." 

Kaoru nodded. "If I could ever help you..." She lowered her head and discretely retreated, but little later she felt the _rurouni_'s warm heavy hand over her own. 

"Kaoru-dono's a very strong girl, _sessha_'s sure he can count on you. And _sessha_'s a lucky man, for having a friend such as Kaoru-dono. Thank you very much." 

Startled, the girl widened her eyes, but their contact didn't linger: it got wider when the girl rested her head on the _rurouni_'s shoulder, still their hands clenched to each other's. Like that, they stood for a long while. 

^_^x 

High afternoon, the movement on the community seemed almost normal again. Kaoru was teaching Yahiko as settled the day before, and many heads stopped their affairs to watch it. Their training was a comical spectacle, for the boy and the _Kamiya Kasshin_ mistress didn't get along that well. Whether working and carrying any chore out or having a funny time while taking a look on the training, everyone on the community seemed to be back to the normal activities. 

The only one who was still curled up in a tent was Misao. She had a persistent thought about the lawyer's strange showing up the previous night. Somehow -and she didn't know exactly why- he got her let down. She had nothing to do with that strange non-smiling man, that was a fact. But from the first -and only- time they met, Misao knew that, inside that frozen aura, there stood a righteous person: it was just a matter of melting that crust of ice that covered him just like a coat. 

"Filthy crook..." The girl laid her head down to the ground. 

^_^x 

Inside an ill-lighted room, the man in a chalk-striped suit sat on a spinning chair, his back to the one standing, in traditional japanese clothes. A cigar between the index and the middle fingers, he spited emotionlessly, while facing the half-closed blinds. "Failed. They shouldn't have lighted it out so quickly." 

"It's all I can do." the man in japanese clothes lowered his head, but didn't humble the tune of his voice. "For us to clear up that spot, it will take quite a long time. At least more than we first expected." 

The man on the chair didn't move. "I have no time to lose. _We_ have no time to lose. And, as far as my knowledge goes, _you_ have both regards on it." 

"She's one of the reasons..." The man in japanese clothes faltered. "While she-- While the community is there, the fire will be lighted out quickly." 

The man in chalk-striped suit spun around, his heavy sunglasses protecting his eyes from being revealed. His voice was still flat, but peaks of anger could be noticed every now and then. "An'ya, it's not my business on _how_ you will clear the area up. If I wanted to have anything to do with it, I wouldn't have hired you and your stupid men. Just _do_ what we settled on our deal, even if you have to _get rid of the crap of that community_. Just do it." He spun the chair around once again, turning his back to the other man once again. "You may go now." 

The man in japanese clothes bowed silently and left. Inside his mind, a pictured face he didn't dare to remove from the back of his head, not even after the events on the past three years. "My dear Megumi..." 

^_^x 

.:It's Me Again:. Gotta apologize -again. First, for the time it took me to post this chapter. Then, for a slight change on what I told you to be the contents of it. I have a good excuse to it! ^_^x  
As you might have realized, each chapter tells about the one day in this story. This chapter wasn't meant to be different, but it'd develop tooooooo long if all this day's events were down here! So, I split it in two. Better, isn't it? I might post both of them together; maximum, one week from forth to fifth.  
=)  
Thanks for reading, hope you are enjoying it!  



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